So this is one of those topics that has my stomach churning at every turn. First, let me say why I settled on it, I was reading a story here on Wattpad of a young lady who was horribly abused by her boyfriend. I will just point a few things:
1)her parents died when she was ten.
2)she was the heir for their multi-million dollar company.
3)she went to college and fell in love with the boy who after one year together, started abusing her. The abuse lasted four years.
4)He alienated her from her family and friends to the extent that all she ever did was leave her house to go jogging, she also worked from home.
5) this guy messed her up so bad that he even branded his initials on her back, almost branded her face too had someone not intervened.

It is an amazing Christian story, the name to be found at the end of the chapter...

So what caught my attention here is after the guy saved her from the face branding, they at some point started seeking God, before that though, she asks why God allowed her to go through years of torture. This bothered me because she wasn't exactly tied to a bedpost, she could leave the house, granted it was only for a few minutes at a time but she could leave. She could warn her family and move to the end of the world... My opinion is that She was only a prisoner of her own mind. Granted this man took advantage of her vulnerability and broke her further... (Again this is a story that I fell in love with, I just noticed her reaction and it resonated with me.)

We Christians are very fond of blaming God for things He didn't do. So I went on my Google research and I ended up being frustrated more. I will not even quote the things I read because it felt like I was reading Greek!

So in my frustration, I asked God what the truth is. Why do we face trials? Is it to strengthen our faith? To test us? Is every trial from God? When is a situation, allowed by God and when is it the devil's work?

Well, I was sent to look at the biblical stories. I do not want to rush through this topic, so I have decided to tackle one story at a time, we will learn as we go.

JOSEPH

The story of Joseph is found from Genesis 37 to the end of Genesis. It is by far my favorite story in the Bible. Anyway, Joseph was loved by his father more than his brothers were, coz he was the son born of his old age... Well, his brothers were jealous. They conspired to kill him. Instead, they settled on selling him. First remember he had had a dream where the sun, moon, and stars bowed down to him, signifying, his father, mother, and brothers would bow down to him. This show's God had already intended for Joseph to rise and govern Egypt.

The devil comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. Do you think with God having such a magnificent plan as He did with Joseph, that the devil would sit by and watch it happen? (Does the devil even know what plans God has for us? I don't know but when God favors you, even the devil takes notice!) Well of course the devil wasn't going to sit idly by, he tried to hinder it by using Jacob's love for his son, to birth jealousy among his brothers. Hence the conspiracy to kill him and eventually sell him.

God wasn't done though, Joseph rose ranks in the house of Potiphar Genesis 39:3-4. Oh, and here comes a pesky demon in the shape of Potiphar's wife...

Joseph was thrown into prison, God still wasn't done with him! He showed him favor and Joseph rose ranks even in prison. Genesis 39:21-23. Oh did I mention that even after Joseph interpreted a dream for a fellow inmate - chief butler - who promised to remember him when he got out, this guy forgot Joseph for two years until Pharaoh's dream.

Finally, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream and viola! He gets the second-highest position in Egypt.

The lesson I took from this story is: the devil will not sit idly by watching while God's plans come to pass in your life. He will put up a fight. He comes to steal, (promises, dreams, etc) kill and destroy!

What did Joseph do? He remained faithful as God turned what was meant for evil into good.

Obviously, it hurt, whatever happened to him. He, however, never once raised a finger towards God blaming him for his misfortunes. He continued serving knowing God was watching, he didn't conclude that God had abandoned him or anything. He refused to sleep with Potiphar's wife saying: "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God!" Genesis 39:9.

Whatever was meant for evil, God turned it for good: Genesis 50: 20. Does God mean evil for us? Uhm, No!

Did God send Potiphar's wife to seduce Joseph? No! Because; "let no one say that I am tempted of God, because neither is God tempted by evil nor does He tempt anyone! James 1:13" So who does tempt? The enemy.

Even in prison where Joseph was forgotten by even the chief Butler Chapter 40:14-22. God never forgot him, and when the time came, Joseph was elevated to his promised position. Promised how? You ask, remember the dreams? God speaks to us even through our dreams!

CONCLUSION:
So was it God's fault for whatever Joseph went through?

What I take from this story is: it doesn't matter what the devil throws at you... know your enemy, stop blaming God, and remain faithful. God's army stands behind you and the devil doesn't compare, he doesn't even come close. You know this life is an exam whose answers we already have. We even know the ending, wanna know what happens in the end? God wins! The devil ends up in the lake of fire with his minions. He knows his time is limited and that's why he's actively trying to take as many souls as he can with him. It's our mandate to reduce that number.

So why did it take too long for God to take Joseph out of Prison you might wonder, Well my conclusion is that God's time which is when Pharaoh had the dream hadn't come. The enemy was trying to beat up Joseph's will to keep going on by sending a lying adulteress and even ensuring that the butler forgot about Joseph when he got out of prison. It wasn't until two years later when this butler remembered Joseph and this time was the perfect time because what happened next is a classic 100 fold blessing for Joseph.

NB 1: God was with Joseph the whole time.

NB 2: Joseph was acting as a representative of God. When he turned down Potiphar's wife, he said, he would be sinning against God and when he was to interpret the dreams of the chief baker and the chief butler he said "Do not all interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me please." 

Finally, this is a vast topic, I intend to cover each story as I understand it. If you disagree with any of the points therein, kindly leave a comment and we can share the different views.

                    TO BE
                CONTINUED
                        💞
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  So as promised, the story I referenced earlier, is called "Scarlet Scars" by one tawni_writes thank you dear for giving me the go-ahead...😘

Please remember, I am no theologian... I am here to learn as well.

God bless you all

June.