This morning in my quiet time I read in the book of Genesis about the scene in the story of Joseph when Jacob, his father, came to Egypt to live, along with the rest of the family. You can read the whole story in Genesis 47. When Jacob arrived he met Pharaoh and the king asked him how old he was. Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years.” (Genesis 47:9)

It struck me that Jacob didn’t simply answer the king’s question; he added that they had been hard years. I looked up the Hebrew word for ‘hard’ and it can be translated, “bad, evil, wretched or painful”. If you know Jacob’s story, you know that his life was hard, but at this point in his life he had just been rescued from a severe famine by his son, Joseph, whom he thought had been dead for over 20 years! And because of that you would think he would have used a different word besides ‘hard’ to summarize his life.

His son Joseph did. Joseph too had experienced a hard life. I would say that Joseph’s life was even harder than his father’s life. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers and had experienced terrible injustice and hardship in his life, but when he looked back on his life he had a different perspective. He said, “God intended it all for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

Both men had a rough life, but one was able to express his opinion in a positive, God-focused way. It challenged me to look at every day that way. My day may have been hard. It may have been painful and even have been patently wretched, but if I believe that God is working in my life, then he is working for the good and I should view it more that way.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God ad are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” –Winston Churchill.

Have a good day!

Tim