“Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Genesis 50:24 (NLT)

One of the things I’ve recognized in my sojourn through God’s Message these many years is that between the promise being made and the promise being fulfilled there’s a whole lot of time filled with a whole lot of suffering. It’s ironic that Joseph lived this principle and now in the end he makes a promise to his family which wouldn’t be fulfilled for hundreds of years after becoming enslaved and suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. His family would walk in his sandals for generations.

Suffering is part of the journey. There is purpose in the pain. I saw this quote from C.S. Lewis that came across my twitter feed yesterday:

“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”