Now imagine living in an ongoing story where you do not know what the ending will be, like what we are facing today with the Coronavirus. No one knows when this will end or when there will be a cure. That is scary stuff. Some of you may have previously lived in a situation where you did not know if someone you loved (or you) would live or die, or where your next meal or your parents’ next paycheck was coming from. How did you feel in these situations?
Many Bible stories have people going through trials and they did not know what the outcome would be. Think of Old Testament Joseph (Genesis 37-50). From the time of being sold into slavery to the point where Pharaoh made Joseph the second-most powerful man in the world was 13 years. During those years, Joseph was almost killed by his brothers, sold into slavery, ending up in a foreign country, accused of a rape he never committed, and thrown into a dungeon prison as a result of that accusation.
In prison, after helping one of Pharaoh’s men understand a dream, that that man would be rei ...