Acts 7:9-16: a reflection

9“The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him 10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers; 16and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

In his speech before the council, Stephen retells the story of Joseph, and he draws out a thread easy to miss. The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt, but, Stephen says, God was with him, and rescued him out of all his afflictions. Notice the phrase: God was with him through the afflictions, the betrayal by his brothers, the slavery, the false accusation, the prison, and eventually delivered him. God's presence was not only in the final rescue, but with Joseph all through the long ordeal.

Notice where God was during Joseph's afflictions: with him. Not absent, waiting to show up only at the happy ending, but present through the betrayal, the slavery, the prison, all the years of suffering. God was with him in the affliction itself, sustaining him, before the deliverance came. The rescue, when it came, was the fruit of a presence that had been there all along, through the darkest stretches.

That is a comfort for our own long afflictions. We often imagine God is absent during our suffering, and will only show up when it is over, in the deliverance. But Joseph's story, as Stephen tells it, says God was with him through it all, present in the affliction itself, not only in the rescue at the end. When you are in a long, hard season, betrayed, mistreated, waiting for a deliverance that has not yet come, remember that God is with you in the affliction, not only waiting at its end. His presence sustains you through the ordeal, before and until the rescue. You are not alone in the suffering; God is with you in it, as he was with Joseph.

Lord, Stephen said of Joseph that through betrayal, slavery, false accusation, and prison, God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions. Thank you that your presence was not only in the final rescue but with Joseph all through the long ordeal. When I am in a long, hard season, betrayed, mistreated, or waiting for a deliverance that has not come, remind me that you are with me in the affliction itself, not only waiting at its end. Keep me from imagining you are absent in my suffering. Your presence sustains me through the ordeal, before and until the rescue. Help me know that I am not alone in the hard season, but that you are with me in it, as you were with Joseph. Sustain me by your presence.