Great Reversals of Fortune, Joseph, and a Lesson in Providence

For the past month or so in Youth Group, we've been talking about Joseph. The more I read and study his life, I can't help but think that Joseph is the prime example of great reversals of fortune. I mean, look at these drastic, crazy reversals that I found in his life:

• He started by being betrayed by his jealous brothers and going from favoured son of a rich daddy to a slave whose life was worth nothing more than twenty shekels of silver (Genesis 37:3, 28)
• He then was taken to Egypt and sold to the wealthy captain of Pharaoh's guards (Potiphar), but by his integrity and hard work, was taken from unimportant slave to overseer over Potiphar's house (Genesis 39:1, 4)
• But after Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph and he faithfully refused her, he was falsely accused and torn from his high position in Potiphar's home to become a resident of Egypt's worst jail (Genesis 39:4, 20)
• But the Lord was with Joseph and, through his interpretation of the dream of Pharaoh's cupbearer (see Genesis 40), caused him to have an audience with Pharaoh, interpret a few troubling, but prophetic, dreams that Pharaoh had had, and lifted him from filthy criminal to second-in-command over all of Egypt. (Genesis 39:20; 41:41-44)
• And last, but certainly not least, when Joseph's brothers arrived in Egypt in the middle of a famine, seeking food, Joseph went from hated and envied brother to revered and awe-worthy saviour (Genesis 37:4; 42:6)

So at the end of the story, when Joseph's happily ever after played out, we see that his life was a roller coaster ride, whisking up to an amazing high, then plummeting down with a rush, coasting high, high, high, and then zooming down again. But in the end, Joseph could look back over his up-and-down life and say to his brothers,

"And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ... So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt." (Genesis 45:5, 8)

For Joseph, all the glory went to God. So no matter what comes our way in this life, whether we're hated by our siblings, sold into slavery, or become vice-president of Egypt, God is provident and sovereign over everything. And He promises us that "for those who love God all things work together for good." (Romans 8:28)