I feel like God really needed me to read this book. At Church at the moment we’ve been talking about Joseph, and with our youth group as well, plus my Bible in One Year app went through the story of Joseph at exactly the same time, and then I open up this book and find that it’s entirely about Joseph too. Too much of a coincidence to not be intended.

And right now the story of Joseph was just what I needed to read. The amount of suffering he went through in this life was obviously uncomparable to anything that I could ever go through, but what we learn from his story is that when you’re going through something that seems unbearably hard, God intends good for it and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. As the blurb says:

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 naive.
But don’t despair either.
With God’s help, you’ll get through this.

And as the author says: “Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: bold, brassy, and everywhere.”. We just need to trust God to deliver us from whatever evil is present in our lives.

Interspersed with anecdotes about people who have entered Max’s life and can be related directly to the different times of trouble that Joseph went through, the book was filled with hope for a better future and comforting words that will stay with you long after you finish reading.

I’ll never read the story of Joseph in the same way again. It’s a story we’ve probably all ready many times from our childhood, but I’ve never sat down and specifically thought about how many times Joseph was thrown to the ground and disregarded, yet he ended up in charge of all Egypt and responsible for making sure the nation didn’t die from the famine – all because he kept an unwavering trust that God was with him and would deliver him from those situations.

If you’re going through a tough time, this book may be just what you need.