God Is With You. Can Others See It?

Joseph had plenty of reasons to wonder if God was really with him. 

He was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, taken to a foreign land, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. If Joseph had looked only at his circumstances, he might have concluded that God had abandoned him. 

But Genesis 39 tells us something different. 

Four times in the chapter, we’re told that the Lord was with Joseph. Seven times, we’re told that God favored him, prospered him, or caused him to succeed. 

God’s presence didn’t mean Joseph’s life was easy. It meant that wherever Joseph was, God was there. 

God’s Presence Was Visible 

Not only did the Lord never forsake Joseph, but the people around him could see that God was with him. 

Potiphar recognized it. The prison warden saw it, too. Joseph’s circumstances changed — from favored son to slave to prisoner — but God never left him. And because God was with Joseph, the people around him experienced His blessing, too. 

That raises an important question for us: can people see that God is with us? 

God Works Through Our Hard Circumstances 

Joseph’s story reminds us that God’s promise to work all things for good doesn’t mean He will keep us from difficult circumstances. 

Sometimes Him working all things for good looks like using ourhardest circumstances to show the people around us His love, faithfulness, and sovereignty. 

Joseph didn’t choose slavery, false accusations, or prison. But God was with him through every one of these situations. And through Joseph, others experienced the goodness of God. 

Our Faith Was Never Meant to Be Private 

Our faith was never meant to be private. God is not a God we’re supposed to keep tucked away in a corner of our lives, bringing Him out only when it’s convenient. The grace He gives us is meant to overflow into the lives of the people around us. 

When God is with us, it should change how we work, how we respond to hardship, how we treat people, how we love, and how we live. 

It could be the people who need to see God most may not recognize Him anywhere else but in the difference they see in you. 

Let His Presence Be Seen 

That doesn’t mean pretending to have it all together; Joseph certainly didn’t. It means faithfully living in the reality that God is with you, even when your circumstances make it hard to believe. 

Joseph’s story compels us to ask ourselves: what would someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus notice about Him through my life?  

Would they see His grace by the way I forgive? Would they see His providence by the way I believe? Would they see His sovereignty through my trust in Him? Would they hear of His greatness from what I say? 

God is with you. Let His presence be seen. 

This post is inspired by the fourth message of Mt. Bethel Church’s sermon series, “God Meant it For Good,” by Dr. John Freeland.