January 15

Genesis 45:4‑5
 
“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life”— Genesis 45:4, 54And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (Genesis 45:4‑5).
IT is a great thing when one learns to look beyond all second causes to God Himself. David, when he recognized that God was dealing with him in permitting Shimei to curse him as he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 16:5, 135And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came. (2 Samuel 16:5)
13And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. (2 Samuel 16:13)), and Joseph, when he looked back over the unhappy experiences he had endured because of his brethren’s envy and hatred, are remarkable examples of this. Both alike realized the truthfulness of the declaration given so many years afterward, that, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:2828And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)).
Whatever suffering the faithful heart of Joseph had endured in the years following his rejection by his brothers and the bondage into which they had sold him, he had lived to see that in it all God had been working out a plan for the enrichment of his own soul and blessing of many people, yes, even of those unworthy brothers who had behaved so badly toward him.
I would not ask Thee, Lord, why I must go
Through strange and unknown ways;
I know Thou leadest me, and I can trust
Thy love through all my days.
I do not need to see the path ahead;
‘Tis known, O Lord, to Thee,
And I am safe when guided by Thy hand,
E’en though I cannot see.”
—Bessie Patten Gilmore.