We all know the story of Joseph, he was sold into slavery by his brothers, thrown into jail by false accusations. Joseph could have been very big in pity parties, but there in prison he used his understanding.

We can read about Joseph story in Genesis chapters 37 to 42: Chapter 40 tells about two of the prisoners with Joseph.

40 verse 5:”the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had dreams on the same night, and each dream had it own meaning.”

One of the things about going through trials, somehow suffering helps us become less self-absorbed. A little suffering can produce a lot of compassion. And that is what happen to Joseph, instead of being involved in self pity parties, God turned his prison into a class room. Joseph learned in a place of despair, some lessons in empathy and sympathy. God is with us no matter where we are, and what does he want us to learn from the dark valley experiences.

Joseph got a lesson in emotional intelligence. He learned to look at others  in there dark valley experiences. Genesis 40 verse 6:

“When Joseph came to them {The cup-bearer and the baker} in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught.”

Right there, Joseph put God’s understanding into action, “He noticed they both looked distraught {upset}.”

Joseph was growing in his dark valley experience. Joseph had enough problems of his own, Joseph was in prison by false accusation, and had a right to feel sorry for himself. But Joseph in his growing, had developed an acute emotional empathy to the people around him.

Joseph had grown in God’s understanding, Just as Our Lord and Our Friend is aware of everything we go through and every emotion we display, Joseph was looking at those around him with greater understanding.

What was behind the upset look of his fellow prisoners was a strange dream. When these two people shared their dream with Joseph, he interpreted them, Three days later, the interpretation of both the cup-bearer’s and the baker’s dream came true. The baker was executed and the cup-bearer was released and reinstated in Pharaoh’s court.

The story of using God’s understanding, could easily of finished there. But several years later, when Pharaoh had a  strange dream, and non of the Egyptian magicians could interpret, the cup-bearer remembered Joseph.

A single act of compassion in an Egyptian Jail, years before led to a place, where Joseph used his God understanding, which resulted in him being promoted to Pharaoh’s chief of staff.

Psalm 23: Though we go through valleys of the shadow of death, Our Lord and Our Friend’s promise is we will feel no evil, and if we use them as a learning process to gain more of Gods’ understanding, he will use us more because we trusted him.

A journey with God is always THROUGH, and there is always things in God to learn as we are going THROUGH.

God Bless.

 O F J