21 Days of Prayer - PersevereSample

When the Promise Doesn’t Seem to Come

Genesis 37-50 tells the story of Joseph, one of Jacob’s twelve sons. While you may think 14 chapters is a lot of time to write about someone’s story, you’d be surprised at how much action, adventure, triumph, and tragedy fit in these chapters of Joseph’s life! I remember studying Joseph’s story in ministry school and drawing a rollercoaster in my notes. A rollercoaster was the most accurate depiction of Joseph’s story because he experienced so many ups and downs.

Genesis 37, depending on the version you read, features a subtitle like “Joseph’s Dreams” or “Joseph’s Dreams of Greatness.” Joseph’s story begins with dreams. He had several dreams where he rose to power, and his brothers bowed down and worshiped him. Joseph, of course, shared these dreams with his brothers, who in turn became angry with him--to the point they wanted to kill him. Instead of killing him, though, they opted to sell him into slavery.

Once in Egypt, Joseph ended up in Pharaoh’s palace, only to eventually find himself imprisoned and forgotten. Eventually, Joseph finds his way back to the palace and secures Egypt’s second most powerful position. At this time, his brothers arrive because there’s a massive famine in the land, and eventually, they find themselves bowing before Joseph without recognizing who he is.

In the end, Joseph chooses to forgive his brothers for sinning against him. He says the powerful quote that is our theme verse for today: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).

What can we learn from Joseph’s story about perseverance? Joseph was a teenager when he first dreamed of being in power. We don’t know how old Joseph was when he stepped into his final position in Egypt, but what we do know is he lived a lot of life between these two events. As I mentioned earlier, we can imagine Joseph probably feeling like he was on a rollercoaster (even though they did not exist back then). He had the dream he was in power! But then he was sold into slavery. He ended up in the palace serving Pharaoh! But then he was arrested and sent to prison. He interpreted dreams and had a chance to leave prison! But then he was forgotten. Finally, Joseph was remembered, and the promise he received in his youth came to fruition.

If you believe you have a God-given dream in your heart that has yet to happen, keep persevering. Even when it doesn’t look like the promise is coming, it’s on its way. We never know what God will use to get us to where He needs us to be--only time will tell. So, hold onto the dream, keep pushing forward, and expect great things because God will never fail us.

Emily N. Green

Prayer Point: What promise are you waiting for? Pray about this today and praise God in the waiting.