“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”
Despite the difficult times Joseph experienced; being sold as a slave, wrongly accused by Potipher, and then thrown into prison, he is still able to wrap this all up favourably and colourfully to his brothers: “God sent me ahead of you.”
The providence of God has a long reach and can see a great way into the future. Even before the years of plenty, providence was preparing for the supply of Jacob’s house for the years of famine.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” God sees His work from the beginning to the end. He has the blueprint and we do not. God can work by contraries as seen in this story of Joseph; the envy of brothers threaten to ruin a family, yet, in this instance, it proves to save a family.
It is encouraging to know that even when our circumstances seem too great to bear, we should not fret, as it was God who led us to that point. On the other hand, when the situation ends well, we also must not be proud, because that too, is God’s doing.
Lock Your Wings 
Two things came to mind as I thought about Joseph revealing himself the his brothers. 1- they must have been scared that he would seek revenge for their actions even if his words said he wouldn’t. 2- now they had some serious explaining to do to their father. How did Joseph get to Egypt? Who was responsible for Joseph’s torn and bloody coat? What would Jacob say to them after all these years of lying?
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Good points. I hadn’t thought about the brothers now needing to explain to Jacob the reality of what they had done.
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