📅 November 24, 2025

🌾 Joseph – A Faith That Carries Through
Devotions from the Life of a Dreamer with Character

🕳️ 4. The Well of Despair
When everything turns dark – and God is still there

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👣 Introduction

The well.
Dark. Cold. Narrow.
A place that captures not only the body, but also the soul.

Despair rarely comes with a warning.
It throws us in – into emptiness, fear, and loneliness.

This is what happened to Joseph.
He didn’t fall only into a pit of stone,
but into a moment that could have shattered everything he had ever believed.

The voices of his brothers could still be heard above –
yet none came back.
None called his name.
None reached out a hand.

Only the pit.
Only darkness.
Only despair.

And yet:
God was there – even when Joseph could not see Him.

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📖 Devotion

Genesis 37:24:
“And they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.”

Imagine Joseph for a moment.

He was shoved, fell, tumbled deeper than ever before.
With a dull thud he hits the hard, cold ground.
For a moment everything is still.
Only his breath in the darkness.

He feels the rough walls with his hands.
No ledge. No ladder.
Only a round, smooth shaft –
a prison with neither doors nor hope.

Above, he hears footsteps.
Whispering.
Laughter.
And then silence.
His brothers – the ones he trusted, played, laughed, lived with –
simply walk away.

Maybe Joseph calls out.
Maybe he begs.
Maybe, after a while, he goes silent because no one answers.

And in this complete isolation it begins:
the questions every heart knows when it is falling.

Why did this happen?
Where are you, God?
Have you forgotten me?
Was the dream a lie?

The darkness presses not only from the outside.
It presses from within.

Joseph is not only in a pit – he is in his first true crisis.

It is one of those moments that split a life into “before” and “after.”

And perhaps you know your own well:

• a moment when a message takes everything from you

• a situation with no visible escape

• a betrayal that pulls the ground from under your feet

• a feeling you cannot control

• a pain you cannot talk about

In the well, even your own thoughts feel too loud.
And God?
Often silent.
Or at least so it seems.

But the Bible does not hide such feelings.

Psalm 88:7:
“You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.”

Psalm 88:14:
“Why, LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?”

These words stand in Scripture as a testimony
that God takes even our despair seriously.

And while Joseph sits in the pit, he sees none of this –
but God sees him.
While Joseph weeps, is silent –
God is working.

He plans rescue.
He prepares a way.
He shapes a character that will one day save entire nations.

The pit was not the end.
It was the beginning of something greater.

Not because the pain was beautiful –
but because God is no less God in the darkness.

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💡 Thoughts – What does this mean for us?

• Darkness does not mean the absence of God.

• Despair is not a sign of weak faith, but often the place where faith grows.

• When you see nothing, God still sees everything.

• God works even when you think no one is working.

• Pit moments are often the beginning of a story bigger than yourself.

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💎 What can we learn from Joseph?

• It is okay to be in despair.
  God is there too.

• A low point does not define your life.
  It is only part of it – not the end.

• God does not leave us in the pit, even when He is silent there.

• Not every dark moment means God has left you.
  Often it means He is preparing something.

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👣 Practical steps for you

• Name your well.
  Tell God honestly what scares or hurts you.

• Bring someone into the light.
  Speak with a person who is spiritually good for you.

• Find a Psalm that expresses your feelings.
  God has words for your darkness.

• Give God time.
  The pit is not a place where you find solutions –
  but a place where God begins to act.

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💭 Practical questions for reflection

1. What “well moments” do I know from my life?

2. Where do I feel stuck right now, with no way out?

3. How might God be working in my life right now – even in the darkness?

4. Which people could help me not remain alone in the pit?

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🙏 Prayer

Dear Father in heaven,
you see my dark moments,
my depths, my uncertainties.
You know the places where I see no escape.

Please meet me in my darkness.
Give me hope, even when I cannot see a single ray of light.
Give me patience when you are silent,
and trust when everything in me is screaming.

Lift my heart step by step out of the pit
and show me that even in the deepest depths
you are with me.

Amen.

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🔑 Key thought of the day

God is closer in the pit than you think –
and He prepares your way out before you can see it.

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🌿 Blessing to close

The God who saw Joseph in the pit
also sees you in your darkness.

May He give you light for every step,
hope for every new day,
and peace stronger than any despair.

May He hold His hand over you –
in the depths and on the way out.

Amen.

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LumenCorde | Daily light for a living soul.

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