Praise be to you, Lord, for your goodness to us, of which there are two kinds. First there is that which we commonly express after we get what we want. We say can, “God is good!" for we can easily see His goodness when He gives us the pleasant, the preferred, the prayer answers we wanted and the protection that we crave.

Then there is the other kind, when God's unwanted goodness comes our way: the trials, chastening and challenges He sends or allows,, like unanswered prayers (actually, the answer is “no” or “wait”), the protection withheld, healing not given and problems unsolved. These all are also your goodness, Lord, as you have higher, deeper, longer and wider reasons for them.

It was your goodness, Lord, that sent Joseph to Egypt as a slave, that sent him to prison for doing what was right, and that in the end made him the Prime Minister of Egypt so he could save his family, the Egyptians, many from surrounding countries--and eventually us, as his work preserved the life of his brother Judah from whence came the Messiah.

All of this was your goodness, although much of it did not look, feel or smell like it to Joseph at the time. But he, by faith, declared his suffering and trials good, as he said to his brothers concerning their selling him as a slave, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Gen. 50:20).

Help us to remember that the next time things seem to "go south” —God has a plan will carry us through to better things.