Jacob lived to see the clouds of darkness lifted and rolled away. He lived to learn that all those things were _not against him_ by any means, but were in fact shaped of God to save his great household alive through a seven years’ famine; and (what is far more than even this)――were designed of God for the salvation of those sons of his whose wickedness had brought these sorrows upon him, and whom God had faithfully taken in hand to bring them to repentance. Had he not learned ere this that it was always safe to trust in his father’s God? Had not the Lord said to him, “I will surely do thee good”? As to being “bereaved of his children,” was not the covenant very definite: “A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins”? (Gen. 35: 11).――――This discipline of the aged patriarch was sharp but wholesome. He might have said, “In faithfulness hast thou afflicted me.” The clouds of life’s stormy day cleared before sunset. It would be pleasant to hear, if we might, the experiences of his closing years when he came to understand God’s ways and to reap the blessed fruits of such chastening sorrows. * * * * * These methods and ends of God in the discipline and culture of his people _reach onward into eternity_. The faithful here are the rulers there (Mat. 25: 21). Those who take God’s discipline kindly here and turn it to best account according to his thought and will, have their reward above. It is not needful that we know in their details what the heavenly responsibilities are, and what the dignities and the honors of those who have been faithful over a few things here; but we are safe in the belief that earthly discipline and culture are not lost attainments as to the after life.――――As one short day transferred Joseph from the prison-house of the kingdom to the lordship of that kingdom, so one day is long enough for the transfer of many a humble, suffering saint of God from dungeons of darkness and pain to palaces of royalty and bliss. In the story of Joseph these great truths of God’s administration with his people were breaking forth upon the minds of men by most interesting stages of progress. * * * * * 2. From these lessons in God’s ways with the righteous, we turn to other lessons pertaining to his _ways with the wicked_. This history of Joseph shows how skillfully and mightily God manages the wicked, making their wickedness work (wholly against _their_ purpose) to evolve abounding good.