Purpose In The Pit预览

 Joseph was seventeen years old and thought he had life by the tail.  

He was his father's favorite son, and he had the colorful coat to prove it.  

He was either bragging about how much greater he was than his brothers, or he was reporting on them to his father when they messed up.

Needless to say, the brothers were fed up.   Especially when he started telling them of his dreams and that they would one day  bow to him.   

The brothers responded by throwing him in a pit. 

 Joseph had a calling to be sure, but he did not yet have the character.

But God was preparing him.  

After his brothers threw him in the pit, Reuben planned to come back and save him.  But he was too late.  The other brothers sold Joseph to a passing caravan as a slave.  And from there he endured trial after trial, going from pit to prison and eventually to power.  

To his credit, instead of feeling sorry for himself, Joseph used every unfairness and every trial as stepping stones to climb up and get out of the pit he had created for himself when he flaunted his dreams in front of his brothers.  

Psalms 105:19 says "Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph's character."

And He developed it. 

And eventually, Joseph's brothers did bow before him, just as Joseph had dreamed, but in an entirely different way than he had imagined.  

Every trial and struggle let him to the point of his greatest calling.  

Joseph was as far away from realizing his dreams as he could be,  and that was when God could actually use him and fulfill the dream.

You might have dreams that are yet to be fulfilled, and it will most likely happen in a way you can't even imagine.  Sometimes our most meaningful purpose can be found in our most painful brokenness.   And sometimes what feels like a pit, is really just a training ground