Christians everywhere know the story of Joseph. He was:
- Thrown into a pit by his brothers
- Sold into slavery by those same brothers
- Entrapped by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison
- Forgotten by Pharaoh’s cup bearer and left in prison two years
But God used Joseph’s troubles for good, and by the end of the Old Testament story, Joseph was the second most powerful man of his generation and reunited with his brothers and father.
In his new book, You’ll get through this: Hope and help for your turbulent times, author Max Lucado uses Joseph’s story to encourage readers by asking, just as God redeemed Joseph’s story, “Can’t He redeem yours as well?”
Whether it is a medical diagnosis, a divorce or loss of a job, Lucado advises his readers that “You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. Don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you’ll get through this.”
He weaves modern-day stories into the book, showing God at work today, helping people through their own messes – a story of a father and mother who lost their 5-year-old son; a story about a fighter pilot who during the Vietnam War spent time as a prisoner of war in “Heartbreak Hotel;” and stories of Thomas A. Dorsey, John Glenn, Colton Burpo and Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth.
He also includes a study guide at the end of the book reviewing each chapter. Scripture is quoted or referred to throughout the questions (and the book), and the questions Lucado asks aren’t just asking what the reader has read, but what it means and how can it be applied.
Look upward
In the first chapter, Lucado writes that, “Joseph would be the first to tell you that life in the pit stinks. Yet, for all its rottenness, doesn’t the pit do this much? It forces you to look upward. Someone from up there must come down here and give you a hand. God did for Joseph. At the right time, in the right way, He will do the same for you.”
And throughout the rest of the book, he makes the case that in “God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good.” Lucado points out that among Joseph’s last recorded words to his brothers are, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” (Gen. 50:20)
He writes that “Nothing in [Joseph’s] story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains, tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe because a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.”
Trust God. “No, really trust Him,” writes Lucado. “He will get you through this. Will it be easy or quick? I hope so. But it seldom is. Yet God will make good out of this mess. That’s His job.”
Book information
You’ll get through this: Hope and help for your turbulent times
By Max Lucado
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013
Hardback – 240 pages.
Retail price: $24.99