November 25, 2025
Joseph – Faith That Carries You Through
Devotions from the Life of a Dreamer with Character
28. Not You Sent Me – But God
How God fulfills His plan beyond human guilt
Daily Bible Verse
“Not you sent me here, but God.”
Genesis 45:8a
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Introduction
There are moments in life when we know exactly who hurt us.
We know the names, the words, the decisions that changed everything.
A dismissal that was unfair.
A betrayal of trust that cut deep.
A word that still follows us today.
Our heart quickly says: “Because of you, I stand where I am today.”
Joseph could have said the same.
He could have looked his brothers in the eyes and said:
“You are the reason I suffered for years.”
But when he met them again after many years, he said something completely different:
“Not you sent me — but God.”
This is not naive suppression.
It is a new perspective on an old story:
God’s plan is greater than human intention.
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Devotion
Joseph stood in a room that represented everything he could never have achieved by human effort: the palace of Egypt. Marble pillars, servants, signs of power everywhere. And in the middle of that splendor, he suddenly saw faces he had known since his youth: his brothers.
These were the same men who had once thrown him into a pit and sold him.
But they no longer looked the same. They were older, worn by hunger and years of responsibility. They did not know who stood before them. To them, Joseph was a powerful governor. To him, they were the reminder of the most painful break in his life.
Joseph had come a long way.
He remembered being seventeen, sharing his dreams, and receiving only mockery and rejection.
He remembered the moment when his own brothers ignored his cries for help and sold him anyway.
He remembered the chains of slavery in Egypt, the years in Potiphar’s house, the false accusations that led him to prison.
He remembered the night he could have despaired—and the many days when God seemed silent.
And yet he was here now.
Not as a victim, but as a man with responsibility.
Not on the margins, but in the center of authority.
When Joseph tested his brothers, he was not only testing them—his own heart was being tested.
Did he want revenge?
Did he want them to feel what it means to be powerless?
Did he want to let old pain set the measure?
He observed how they spoke with one another, how they talked about guilt, how they protected Benjamin. He saw they were no longer the same. The brutal young men had become men who repented, who took responsibility, who were willing to stand up for each other.
When Joseph finally recognized the change in them, he could no longer stay distant.
He had everyone else leave the room.
It was a moment not meant for an audience, but protected by intimacy.
Then it broke out of him.
Tears.
Not controlled, not measured—but loud and honest.
He said:
“I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.”
He spoke the truth.
He did not pretend nothing had happened.
He named the pain—and then he set something above it, something greater than everything they had done:
“Not you sent me here, but God.”
He did not declare the injustice good.
But he made something clear:
Your actions were not the final word.
God has the final word.
Joseph had learned to read his life story not only through the lens of people, but through the lens of God.
People had sold him—but God had sent him.
People had diminished him—but God had prepared him.
People had planned evil—but God had turned it into good.
Because Joseph recognized this, he could deal with his past differently.
He was no longer trapped in the question, “Why did they do this to me?”
Instead, he asked, “What has God done through all of this?”
This perspective made him free.
Free to forgive his brothers.
Free to provide for them.
Free to be an instrument of salvation rather than a judge of the past.
Joseph stayed realistic:
He knew what had happened.
But he didn’t stay stuck in it.
He placed his story within the framework of God’s plan—and exactly through that, the wound became a channel of blessing.
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Thoughts for Your Heart
• Your story is not written by people alone—God writes with you.
• What others intended for harm, God can transform into something good.
• You don’t have to deny your past in order to entrust it to God.
• Freedom begins where you see God’s hand over your story—even in the difficult chapters.
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What We Can Learn from Joseph
• You are not only a victim of circumstances—you can be an instrument of God.
• True forgiveness becomes possible when you recognize that God is greater than the injustice.
• God’s guidance does not stop when people act wrongly.
• Our life paths can serve others—even when they were shaped by pain.
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Practical Steps
• Take time to lay your story before God—honestly, without beautifying anything.
• Name the people or situations that hurt you—and deliberately say: “Lord, I leave the judgment to You.”
• Ask God to show you where He has been at work despite everything.
• Pray specifically: “Use my story, even the painful parts, to bless others.”
• If possible, begin serving someone instead of focusing only on your pain.
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Questions for Reflection
• Which person or situation do I still associate with pain and injustice?
• Where have I focused only on what people have done to me—and not on what God could make of it?
• What would it mean for me to be able to say: “Not you sent me—but God”?
• In what area of my life do I long for a new perspective from God today?
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Prayer
Dear Father in heaven,
you know the situations in my life in which people have hurt me.
You know the names, the memories, the wounds.
Sometimes I see only what people have done—
and it is hard to believe that You still have a plan.
I ask You:
Give me Your perspective on my story.
Help me recognize where You have led me, even when it was hard.
Remove bitterness from my heart
and replace it with trust in You.
Teach me to be able to say, like Joseph:
“Not you sent me—but God.”
Not because the injustice is small,
but because You are greater than any injustice.
Use my past
to bring hope to others.
Free me so that I can be a blessing.
Amen.
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Key Thought of the Day
People can influence your path—
but God determines your calling.
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Blessing to Close
The God who led Joseph through betrayal, loss, and foreign lands
bless you also in your story.
May He give you eyes to recognize His hand,
even in chapters you would never have chosen.
May He free you from bitterness
and fill your heart with renewed trust.
May He use your past
to give others a future.
May the God who not only knows you
but also sends you
go with you.
Amen.
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