Context No. 2818 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 105:17-32: in context

17He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave. 18They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons, 19until the time that his word happened, and the LORD’s word proved him true. 20The king sent and freed him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. 21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions, 22to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. 23Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. 24He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. 25He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. 26He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words. 29He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. 30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. 31He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders. 32He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land.

The psalm retells Israel's story, and it reads Joseph's suffering in a startling way: God sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, sold as a slave, his feet bruised with shackles, his neck in irons. It stayed that way until the time his word came true, and the king sent and freed him and made him lord of all his house.

Look at how the psalm frames the slavery. It was not God losing control; it was God positioning a deliverer. He sent a man ahead. The pit, the false accusation, the prison, all of it was the road by which a rescuer arrived in Egypt before the famine did. And the quiet line, until the time his word came true, holds the whole long, hard wait in which God's promise was slowly proved. What looked from the inside like Joseph's ruin was, from above, the saving of a nation. God so often works his rescue through the very afflictions that seem to derail it.

Can I trust that the hard, waiting seasons are not God absent but God positioning, sending something ahead for a rescue I cannot yet see?

Sources

Psalm 105:19: "Until the time that his word happened, and the LORD's word proved him true."
Genesis 45:5: "God sent me before you to preserve life."
Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God."