“This looks really grim, discouraging for sure.” I’ve said these words many times throughout my life, like when I’m walking through a brothel in a developing country, visiting a malnutrition clinic overflowing with babies and toddlers suffering with severe acute malnutrition, when I’m in a long line at the airport trying to get through TSA in time to catch a flight or just having a bad day playing pickleball. I’m certain that all of us go through bleak experiences and seasons. But is there potential good that can come out of what looks bleak?
I’m presently reading in Genesis about Joseph. I’ve been looking at the beginning of his life when he was his dad’s favorite kid. Because of the favoritism, Joseph was despised by his brothers, never mind that he was one of the youngest of all the brothers. Joseph didn’t help his cause when he let his brothers know about his dream in which they all bowed down to him, using the sheaves of wheat motif. Furthermore, in his second dream, even his dad was put off with Joseph when he told everyone about the whole family bowing down to him in the sun, moon and stars dream.
After this, Joseph’s brothers were away from home herding sheep. At his dad’s request, Joseph went to check on his brothers. When his brothers saw him, they seized the opportunity to eliminate Joseph. Given their visceral hatred for this little brother, their immediate plan was to kill him, but they paused their plan and threw him into a pit while they ate a meal. While they were eating, a band of traders came along, and instead of killing Joseph, his brothers decided to sell him to the traders and make some money from his removal.
Things must have looked pretty bleak for Joseph when he was stuck in the pit. If he didn’t earlier recognize the intensity of his brother’s hatred for him, I’m certain it became very clear at this point. I suspect that many things went through his mind while he was in the pit. Perhaps he thought, Are they going to leave me here so I will starve to death? Is there any way for me to get out of here? How could my brothers be so cruel? Will I ever see my dad again? What’s going to happen to me?
If things were bad in the pit, I can only imagine how Joseph felt on the trek to Egypt, having been sold into slavery by his brothers. At that point, he had no clue about his future—where he would live, who would buy him, what kind of work he would be doing, etc. Maybe he was just grateful to be extracted from the pit, so he wouldn’t die such a lonely and grim death. Nevertheless, his future was altogether uncertain now that he’d been sold as a slave.
But maybe his bleak circumstances made way for tremendous potential. If you know the story of Joseph, through circuitous gyrations, he wound up as the second most powerful man in Egypt. This was a far stretch from his walk to Egypt as a slave. I bring this to your attention so that maybe you can receive some encouragement if you are in a very bleak time. If you find yourself in dire straits and desperate conditions, perhaps your situation is the breeding ground for something incredible that God has for you in the future. Perhaps it would be helpful to remember that though these circumstances have come to pass, this isn’t the end and just keep walking, staying close to God no matter what. Bleak can have great potential in God’s hands!
