What happened to Joseph was not fair! When your family sells you as a slave and your boss' wife has you wrongly imprisoned on rape charges, you tend to ask, "Lord, what's going on?" Before God promoted Joseph to the palace he wanted to know how he would hold up under pressure. And the same goes to you. Joseph was called to save his family and lead this nation. But big assignments call for big tests of character. You do not always understand this when you are going through the fires of refinement. When Joseph's brothers finally stand before him as ruler of Egypt he tells them "You did not do it to me, God orchestrated the whole thing." Talk about seeing things clearly! Someone else's action against you is not the bottom line. And the reason is simple: God knows that somewhere down the line He will be able to use all that painful stuff to bring your life into focus and accomplish His purposes. With God it is never too late! Have you ever been to a real pizzeria? Not the kind where everything is pre-packaged and a 13-year-old can do it. No, the kind of place where they take a ball of dough, slam it down, twirl it around, flatten it, then put it into a high degree oven. That is what is required for the pizza to hold all that good stuff they plan to put on top. Think of yourself as pizza dough and God as the person working it. He's got some good stuff He wants to lay on you, but before He can do it He is got to knock you into shape.
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