Do you remember Joseph in the book of Genesis? The kid who was sold into slavery and sent to Egypt? What if he swung by your office and asked for advice or sat around your bonfire seeking wisdom. 

His story begins with promise and ends with glory, but everything in between looks like a series of tragedies: betrayal, slavery, false accusation, and imprisonment. It would be hard not to see him as a victim of relentless injustice, and yet, he served God! Yet, woven through every chapter of his life is a quiet thread of providence. God’s hidden hand never left him in the pit, not in the prison, and not even in the moments when it looked like every promise had been forgotten. But would your advice have helped him while he was in these locations, enduring these abuses? 

Joseph’s story reminds us that God’s providence is not a doctrine for comfort only, it’s a call to trust when life feels unfair and there seems to be no end. It teaches us to counsel ourselves and others with a deep conviction: even when God is silent, he is never absent.

The Bible records around forty dreams over a span of fifteen hundred years, and Joseph’s dreams stand among the most famous. His dreams revealed God’s future plan, that he would rise to a position of great authority, but he shared them with youthful arrogance. His brothers hated him for it. Even his father rebuked him.

If Joseph came to you at seventeen, bewildered that no one understood what God had shown him, how would you guide him? Perhaps the best counsel would be, “Be patient with God’s promises. Don’t force His timing, wait on the Lord who gave you the dream.”

Faith doesn’t require validation from others, nor does faithful obedience need much attention. God’s word stands even when it’s misunderstood. Joseph’s dreams were true, but his heart still needed humility and patience before those dreams could become reality. 

His brothers later sold him to slave traders and they hauled him to Egypt. Through this, it seems he worked hard and it was noticed by the people who had purchased him.

Potiphar owned him and he worked hard and the Lord blessed him there. We read that Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph and tempted him, with herself, this led to him being falsely accused and thrown into prison. If he sat across from you, he might say, “I honored God, and it made things worse.” What advice would you give? 

But scripture repeats a phrase three times in Genesis 39: “The Lord was with Joseph.” God’s presence, not comfort, was the evidence of his favor. The measure of divine blessing is not whether life feels fair, but whether God is near. Would your counsel echo this truth? 

Our obedience doesn’t guarantee promotion, but it does guarantee God’s presence. Joseph’s suffering wasn’t a detour, but it was the road God had chosen to fulfill His promise.

Later, while in prison for “pursuing Potipher’s wife,” Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants and asks one of them to remember him after getting out of prison. Yet, for TWO YEARS, he remains forgotten in a dungeon. This might be the hardest moment, when faith is met with silence.

The counsel to Joseph here would be, “Wait well. Trust that God is doing something you cannot yet see.” God was aligning things in Pharaoh’s life (through a dream) with Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams, and when the time was right, God would place Joseph on the throne! 

Our God is Lord of time and waiting in scripture is never wasted. Waiting is often where God shapes the character needed to carry his plan for our lives.

Years later, Joseph stands before the very brothers who sold him like an animal to merchants. Instead of vengeance, Joseph offers mercy: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen 20:52).

At that moment, everything comes full circle. Joseph finally sees what God was doing all along. God was using every injustice, every tear, every false accusation to preserve life and fulfill his covenant. God’s plan fueled his reconciliation to his brothers! God was using every day, night, week, month, and year to work out his sovereign plan for the protection of the people of Israel. Would your counsel have held out this possibility? Would it have pointed to this kind of hope? 

God’s sovereignty never excuses sin, but it overrules it for his glory. What others intend for evil, God weaves into redemption.

We might not stand in Egypt, but we face our own pits, prisons, and palaces. The same God who ruled Joseph’s story rules ours.

• When people/family betray you — remember Joseph’s God.
• When obedience costs you — remember Joseph’s God.
• When you feel forgotten — remember Joseph’s God.
• When time is moving slowly — remember Joseph’s God.
• When reconciliation seems impossible — remember Joseph’s God.

The providence of God is not a distant doctrine; it’s the ground we stand on when everything else gives way. Faith looks forward even when understanding can only look backward. It ought to be the anchor we give anyone asking for advice no matter their situation.

Veritas, may God give us faith to trust his hidden purposes and his perfect timing, to endure when the path feels unfair, and to believe that he is working all things for good, from the pit to the prison, and, if he wills, all the way to the palace.