What if?

What if forever attaining the highest good in the universe means not getting what we think we want now?  What if the highest good means learning to trust God and becoming more Christlike?  What if the author chose the right setting and plot twists after all, and in the end we'll be eternally grateful for our God-given part in the story?

Given the option, surely Joseph would have walked off the stage of God's story.  After betrayal and abuse and the false accusation by Potiphar's wife, Joseph had surely had enough for one life. 

Talk to Job in the middle of his story--with ten children dead and excruciating boils covering his body, his friends haranguing him and his feeling abandoned by God.  Ask him if he wants out.  I know what he'll say: "why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came out of the womb?" (Job 3:11).

But that's all over now.  On the New Earth, sit by Job and Joseph at a banquet.  Ask them, "Be honest, Job.  You too, Joseph.  Was it really worth it?" 

"Absolutely," Job says.  Joseph smiles, nodding emphatically.

"But Job, had God given you the choice back then, wouldn't you have walked out of the story?" 

"In a heartbeat.  I'm just glad he didn't let me." 

-Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil