A guy in the Bible named Joseph had a dip. A thirteen-year dip. He had dreamed that his brothers would bow down to him. They hated him before he blabbed his dream, and now they hated him even more.
After the brothers threw Joseph into a pit and began contemplating how to kill him, one of the brothers showed mercy. He suggested they just resort to human trafficking, and they sold him as a slave to a band of travelers on their way to Egypt.
I’m sure Joseph couldn’t believe his own family tossed him into the pit. It must’ve hurt so much for him to overhear their plans to sell him. Joseph was now a slave in the house of a powerful guy named Potiphar. God gave him favor until Joseph was elevated in status and in charge of everything. Things were going great until Potiphar’s wife threw herself at Joseph, and when he rejected her advances, she lied and accused him of rape. Once again, Joseph was thrown into a pit. Only this time it was a pit of prison. Years went by. Eventually, he met a couple of Pharaoh’s servants—a cup-bearer and a baker—and helped them understand their dreams that had been haunting them. When the cup-bearer got released, Joseph in return simply asked that the guy put in a good word for him with Pharaoh. The guy forgot for two more years. Thirteen years total since his brothers betrayed him. Thirteen long years in the dip. Hell on earth. He had every reason to quit in the dip, but he didn’t.
As you read Joseph’s account in Genesis, every once in a while, tucked into the pages of this Old Testament story, you’ll read a phrase that is repeated: “And the Lord was with Joseph.” Try reading that again in a British accent. It makes it sound better. God was with him even in the dip. He was working behind the scenes, even when it looked like nothing was happening. Even when Joseph’s situation seemed to have gone from bad to worse, the Lord was with him.
The Pharaoh had a series of dreams he couldn’t figure out; in fact, none of his officials could interpret the dreams. He was desperate and asked if anyone could tell him what these nightmares meant. This finally sparked the cup-bearer’s memory of the friend he met while in prison, and he said, “Oh yeah! There was this guy with me in the pen. Joseph. He could do it.” So they fetched Joseph and cleaned him up. They presented him before Pharaoh, and sure enough, God gave Joseph the interpretation of the dreams. There would be seven years of plentiful harvest followed by seven years of famine. But that’s not all that happened… Pharaoh then elevated Joseph to be second in command of the entire nation of Egypt. This was not just rags to riches, this was dip to destiny. Good thing Joseph didn’t quit in the dip.
Just as Joseph predicted, there was a terrible famine in the land. But since God had given Joseph knowledge of this upcoming tragedy, Joseph commanded the nation to save silos full of grain from the previous seven years of plenty. Now Egypt had so much food that it became the wealthiest nation in the world. People were coming from all over to buy food from Egypt.
One day Joseph was sitting there officiating all the rations, and guess who showed up? His brothers. To buy food. They all came and bowed down to him, just like in his dream so many years ago. But they didn’t recognize him because he was wearing his Egyptian garb and thick Mac eyeliner makeup. Can you imagine the emotion that must have flooded through Joseph? All the anger. The frustration. The betrayal. And though he had the power and the means to get revenge, he stopped and gave them vision. A new perspective. You’ve heard of 20/20 vision. Let me give you 50/20 vision:
Genesis 50:20 says: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Joseph got it! He was in a dip. A deep, horrible, life-altering dip, but now with a different perspective he was able to see what I hope you see through this message: YOUR DESTINY IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR DIP!
Too many people quit too early. Thank God that Joseph didn’t. Where would all the thousands of people have been had Joseph quit in the dip? God used the dip to work some things out in Joseph’s heart and character so that He could elevate him to rescue a nation. On top of that, he saved his entire family, who went on to become the twelve tribes of Israel.
You can’t quit in the dip. Just like for Joseph, there are people waiting for you on the other side of your dip. You might feel like me, under my desk, crying out to God to rescue you or to pick someone else to complete your calling. You might feel like Joseph, betrayed by those he loved and thrown into a dip for several years. But God sees you. He wants you to trust that even though you can’t see it just yet, He is working behind the scenes. Even those things that have been done to you, things that intended to harm you, God can use them to sharpen, strengthen, and propel you. He can turn it around for good, allowing the circumstances of that dip to launch you into your destiny. Don’t quit. Other people are counting on you.
Watch Shaun Nepstad on LIFE Today Live. Excerpted from Don’t Quit in the Dip by Shaun Nepstad. Used with permission from Worthy Books, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
