Have you ever had something really unfair happen to you? Maybe you got in trouble for something your sibling did, or you worked really hard on a project but didn’t get the grade you thought you deserved. It’s frustrating when bad things happen, especially if you didn’t do anything wrong!

Joseph knew exactly how that felt. His brothers were so jealous of him that they threw him into a deep pit and then sold him as a slave! Joseph hadn’t done anything wrong. His brothers were just being mean because their dad loved Joseph and gave him a special colorful coat.

There was another guy in the Bible named Job who had terrible things happen to him too. He lost his family, his animals, his house, and even got really sick—all in one day! Job’s wife told him he should curse God and give up. But Job said something really wise: “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10, NLT) Job didn’t understand why everything was happening, but he decided to keep trusting God anyway.

Both Joseph and Job learned something important: Sometimes we go through hard times that don’t make sense to us, but God can see the bigger picture that we can’t see. Years later, Joseph realized that all the bad things that happened to him were actually part of God’s plan to save his family and thousands of other people from starving!

Take Action: Is there something hard or unfair happening in your life right now? Instead of getting angry at God or giving up, try praying like this: “God, I don’t understand why this is happening, but I trust that You have a good plan. Please help me stay close to You even when things are difficult.” Remember, God might be preparing you for something amazing that you can’t even imagine yet!