Genesis Chapter 37 Verses 23-24 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornate robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
Here it isrepresenting a clear context, in which Joseph was threw in a vulnerable situation, several times in during our life, people will put us on undesirable circumstances orevents that will not be under our control may occur.
Waiting for God
Nevertheless, what we do in those situations? It’s usually for us stand with crossed arms, waiting for God to solve the issue for us, watching the course of things without knowing what directions will take. Just as it happened with Joseph, he was captured by the brothers, into a hole, taken from the hole and from it and then sold to Midianites
(Genesis Chapter 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt).
God will deliver
Perhaps Joseph had no clue what he could do at that moment, he felt totally vulnerable and weak to fight the forces contrary to his direction,but even in vulnerable circumstances, God is always with us, he can deliver us even though our reaction to the situation is still waiting for things to improve without acting.(Genesis Chapter 39, verses 2-3The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did).
God’s power
Nevertheless, there will be situations in which we will have to act,certainly those would not be the last circumstances in which Joseph would be vulnerable,God showed his power through Joseph in a fragile condition in which he acted peacefully, but now God intended to show his power through the power of Jose's actions under circumstances
(Genesis Chapter 39, verses 7-8 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand).
Here we see Josephfirst reaction to adversity, he had to take the initiative and say not the Potiphar wife and we can see in the sequence of the story that God raised him even more. Every so often, when we found at vulnerable situations, so we need to have the courage to act and trust God, because many times he expects our initiative as proof of faith that He will be in charge.
Liliana Ferrão is from ambique, currently living and studying in Queensland at James Cook University. lilianaferrao4@hotmail.com