When Joseph Was in the Pit: Trusting God in the In-Between
Trusting God in the in-between — that raw, uncertain space between promise and fulfilment — is one of the most difficult things a believer is ever asked to do.
Key Scripture
“They took him and threw him into the cistern, and the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead… So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.” Genesis 37:24-28
Reflection
Picture the scene. Joseph — beloved son, dreamer of God-given dreams — sits at the bottom of a dry, dark cistern. His own brothers have stripped him of his coat and are eating a meal just a few metres away, unbothered. There is no angelic visitation recorded here. No voice from heaven. No burning bush. Just silence, stone walls, and the sound of his brothers laughing over their food. If ever a moment looked like the end of a story, this was it.
But here is the quiet, unshakeable truth woven into this passage: God’s authorship of Joseph’s life did not pause when Joseph hit the bottom of that pit. The sovereign hand that had given Joseph those dreams in Genesis 37 had not withdrawn. The story was still being written — it was simply moving through a chapter that Joseph could not yet read. The same is true for you. The pit you are sitting in right now, whether it is a broken relationship, a lost job, a diagnosis, a season of grief, or a promise that seems to have gone silent — it is not the final page. It is a page.
What makes Joseph’s story so profoundly comforting is precisely what makes it so painful to read: he did not know what we know. He did not have access to Genesis 39, or 41, or 45. He had no preview of the palace, no reassurance that the dreams would one day make sense. He simply sat in the dark with a promise and no explanation. And yet God was sovereign over every detail — the timing of the caravan, the route of the merchants, even the specific price of twenty shekels. None of it was accidental. God does not redeem suffering by removing it from the story; He redeems it by weaving it into a purpose so vast and so good that, one day, even the pit will be seen as part of the plan.
If you are in the in-between today — between the promise God has spoken over your life and the moment you see it fulfilled — take heart from Joseph’s pit. God’s sovereignty does not erase your suffering. It does not minimise your tears or dismiss your confusion. But it does mean that nothing happening to you is outside of His reach, His knowledge, or His redemptive purpose. Jesus Himself went into the ultimate pit — the grave — before the resurrection dawn. He knows what it is to wait in the dark. And He is with you in yours.
Prayer
Father, I will be honest with You — this in-between is hard. I do not always understand what You are doing, and there are moments when the silence feels unbearable. But I choose today to trust that You are still writing my story. You were sovereign over Joseph’s pit, and You are sovereign over mine. Remind me that You do not waste a single moment of suffering, that Your purposes are higher than I can see, and that the same Jesus who walked out of the tomb is walking with me through this valley. Help me to hold the promise with an open hand, to resist despair, and to believe that the next chapter is already written in Your grace. In the name of Jesus, my risen Redeemer. Amen.
Today’s Action Step
Take a piece of paper or open your journal and write down the specific promise or hope you are waiting on — then beneath it, write these words: “God is still writing this story.” Place it somewhere you will see it today as a daily reminder that the pit is not the final chapter.
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