The Path of Life - Part II

Joseph was loved, favoured, and robed in colours, not just of fabric but of destiny. He was surrounded by affection and filled with dreams. But dreams are not fulfilled by dreaming. They are fulfilled when God takes a man through the path of life. This path is straight, but it is not smooth. It is narrow and filled with fire, because glory must be refined.

God’s path for Joseph led him through betrayal, temptation, accusation, and confinement. It began in a pit. “Then they took him and cast him into a pit... and they took Joseph to Egypt” (Genesis 37:24–28 NKJV). Would you have believed that Brother Judah, whose name means praise, the very one who was meant to sing the praise of God in Joseph’s life, was the one who suggested he be sold into slavery? “So Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.’ And his brothers listened” (Genesis 37:26–27 NKJV). His idea was simple. Let us not kill him directly, so we can deny any guilt, but let us hand him over to others who will most likely destroy him. That way, our hands look clean, but the outcome is the same.

Have you not met people like that? They are not the ones doing the slandering, the attacking, or the accusing, but they are the ones whispering in corners, planting the seed, fueling the fire. On this path of life, the Lord has taught me that sometimes the ones who should be testifying to God’s goodness in your life are the very ones silently working for your disappearance. They want you erased. But they want it done so quietly that no one will trace it to them. And if questioned, they will stand tall and say, “We didn’t kill him.”

They sold him for twenty pieces of silver. And for twenty-two years — that is 8,030 days — these brothers lived with the secret. They spent the money. They smiled. They moved on. Not one of them was pierced in the conscience. Not one tried to help their father find closure. For 8,030 nights, their father wept in agony, thinking his son was dead, while they held the truth and kept silent. That is evil. That is wickedness on the path of life. And I said to myself, Judas was even better than these ones. At least Judas could not live with his guilt for three days. But these brothers lived with their lie for twenty-two years. And even when they stood face to face with Joseph, they still had the boldness to invent another story. Wao.

And that was not the end. “Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison... and he was there in the prison” (Genesis 39:20 NKJV). The pit was not a mistake. The prison was not a detour. It was God preparing His man. Joseph wasn’t a victim. He was a vessel. “He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave... until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him” (Psalm 105:17–19 NKJV).

And through it all, God was present. “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy” (Genesis 39:21 NKJV). His presence may not always bring the comfort you desire, but He never leaves. Those who tried to bury Joseph unknowingly built his staircase to the palace. They stripped his robe but not his mantle. Sold his body but could not silence his calling. Laughed at his dreams but bowed before their fulfilment.

“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV). When God is leading, your steps may go through darkness, but they will end in light. Your pain will carry purpose. Your fire will birth favour. So cry for grace. Not the grace to avoid hardship, but grace to endure it without pollution. “You therefore must endure hardship as a good sol