There was a season of my life when I thought everything was falling into place.
I was engaged. My life was packed into cardboard boxes, ready to be loaded into a U-Haul. I had given notice at work, was preparing to graduate from seminary, planning a small wedding, and dreaming about launching my freelance business as we prepared to move to another state.
Then, almost overnight, every plan unraveled.
The wedding wasn’t happening.
The move wasn’t happening.
The future I had carefully imagined disappeared before my eyes.
Looking back now, I can smile a little at how dramatic twenty-something Ashley felt. But in that moment, it didn’t feel dramatic at all. It felt devastating. I wondered if I’d ever get married. I wondered if the future I had dreamed about had slipped away for good. Everything I thought God was doing suddenly came to a screeching halt.
I thought God was unraveling my plans.
Looking back, I can see He was lovingly writing a better story than the one I had imagined.
Joseph knew what it felt like to watch life take a direction he never would have chosen.
When we read Genesis 50, it’s easy to focus on Joseph’s well-known words: “You meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose” (Genesis 50:20). Those words have comforted believers for generations, but we sometimes forget when Joseph spoke them.
He didn’t say those words from the bottom of the pit.
He didn’t say them while sitting in prison, wondering if anyone remembered him.
He didn’t say them while faithfully serving people who would eventually forget him.
He said them decades later.
By the time Joseph spoke those words, he had lived long enough to look back and recognize God’s hand through every twist and turn of his story.
I think that’s important because most of us aren’t living in Genesis 50. We’re living somewhere between the pit and the palace.
We’re in the middle chapters, where the story still feels unfinished. The chapters where prayers remain unanswered, dreams seem delayed, and God’s timing feels painfully different than our own.
Joseph’s confidence wasn’t rooted in finally understanding every painful detail of his life. Scripture never tells us that he received every answer to every “why.” Instead, Joseph came to trust something even greater than understanding. He trusted the character of God.
Notice what Joseph says, “You meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose.”
His brothers had intentions.God had intentions too. What others meant for evil could never stop what God intended for good. That doesn’t mean the pit wasn’t painful. It doesn’t mean the betrayal didn’t wound him. It doesn’t mean the prison wasn’t lonely. Those things were real, but they were never outside of God’s sovereign care.
Even when Joseph couldn’t see it, God was faithfully working behind the scenes, weaving together a story that would not only preserve Joseph’s life but save countless others during a devastating famine.
The same is true for us.So often we assume that because life isn’t unfolding according to our timeline, something must have gone wrong. But what if the delay isn’t evidence that God has forgotten you? What if it’s evidence that He is still writing your story?
One of my favorite details in this passage is Joseph’s response to his brothers’ fear: “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19).
Joseph understood something we often struggle to accept. He didn’t need God’s perspective in order to trust God’s heart. How often do we exhaust ourselves trying to answer questions only God can answer?
Why did this happen?
Why hasn’t this prayer been answered?
Why is everyone else moving forward while I feel stuck?
Joseph reminds us that we were never meant to carry God’s role. We don’t have to understand every chapter in order to trust the Author. That’s what biblical patience looks like. Patience isn’t simply waiting for God to act. It’s continuing to trust Him while He writes a story you cannot yet see.
Years after that broken engagement, I can look back and see God’s kindness woven throughout that season in ways I never could have imagined. If everything had gone according to my plans, I would have missed so much of what God had prepared for me.
But perhaps the greatest gift wasn’t simply the different life He eventually gave me. It was discovering that He was trustworthy long before I understood what He was doing.
Maybe today you’re looking at your own unfinished chapter. Maybe it’s a relationship that ended, a diagnosis you never expected, a longing that still hasn’t been fulfilled, or a prayer you’ve whispered for years.
If that’s you, remember Joseph. Remember God’s character. Remember that the verse we love so much came after years of faithful waiting. Remember that God was working in every chapter—even the ones Joseph didn’t understand. And remember that just because you can’t yet see what God is doing doesn’t mean He isn’t doing something beautiful.
You may not be living in your Genesis 50 yet. You may still be somewhere between the pit and the palace. But the same God who was faithful in every unseen chapter of Joseph’s story is faithfully working in yours. His plans have never been behind schedule. Even when His plan takes longer than you expected, His goodness never does.
