| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 12 |
Page 4 |
The story of Joseph furnishes a remarkable illustration of the powerlessness of wrong to harm a life which is in God’s keeping. We pity the boy as he is cruelly sold by his brothers, and carried away as a slave. But we have only to read the story through to its close to see how even the wrongs which he suffered were made to minister good. We are apt to think, however, that Joseph’s case was exceptional, that God does not take the same interest in ordinary lives. But this is not true. Joseph was no exception. He was no dearer to God than thousands of other boys have been, and his life was no more important in God’s plan than the life of many others along the centuries. Everyone who will commit his wrongs into the hands of God, going forward meanwhile in the path of duty, will learn that evil has been changed to good for him, and that blessing has come out of what seemed to be hurt.
Jesus Himself is the best illustration: “Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” If only we will keep our hands off, keep our heart patient and gentle, and go forward in faithful duty, blessing will come from the enduring of even the bitterest cruelties.
Page 4