Joseph

We have been studying the life of Joseph during our Bible time.  He is absolutely one of my favorite men of the Bible.  He spent years going through all this stuff that wasn't his fault.  Sold into slavery as a teenager, sent to live in a foreign land.  Can you imagine the terror? The confusion? The heartbreak?  Do you think he struggled with hatred and bitterness toward his brothers?  Do you think he ached for home?

Then to be lied about by some cougar lady, put in prison.  I would be screaming and angry.  I would be ticked!

The Bible continually says God was with Joseph.  God blessed Joseph as a slave.  God blessed Joseph as a prisoner. Sitting in jail for years, forgotten even by the ones you helped after they are released.  The temptation to be discouraged must have been overwhelming.

It begs the question, why do we go through such difficult times?  Joseph loved God, and God was with him, but the hard times came anyway. God didn't stop Joseph from being sold into slavery.  God didn't stop Joseph from being lied about and thrown into prison.  God didn't get Joseph's wrongful conviction overturned in a short time.  God blessed Joseph during those hard times, but He didn't get Joseph out of them.

Not until it was time.

 

Not until years passed by.  

Then, suddenly, the day arrived.  Pharaoh dreamed a dream only God could have given, one that only His chosen Hebrew prisoner could interpret.  

God's timing.

The result?  Joseph's family, as well as the nation of Egypt and surrounding areas, were saved from starvation during a severe famine.  

When the very ones that had sold Joseph into slavery, his own brothers, showed up in Egypt for food, Joseph didn't have them sold as slaves in return.  He tested them, to see if God had changed their character.  That doesn't mean he held unforgiveness for his brothers.  He just wanted to take the opportunity, while he was still unrecognized, to see who his brothers had become and how they treated the youngest.  

Somewhere along the many years in Egypt, whether in the hardship of slavery and prison, or in the service of Pharaoh, Joseph had released his brothers' fate to God. 

Have you released that person that hurt you to God?  That person that crushed you?

Joseph could see, after he saved his family from starvation, that God had been the one to send him to Egypt.  His brothers may have physically sold him, but God was in charge.

Can good come out of what appears to be horrible circumstances?  Can our attitude in the midst of struggles and crushing circumstances make a difference?

God wasn't with Joseph because he spent those years angry, bitter, complaining, and cursing his unfair circumstances.  God was with Joseph because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God was with Joseph because Joseph kept his attitude right and didn't sin...even when it flaunted itself in the form of a seducing woman.  Joseph continued to care for the prisoners in the jail, even after the cup-bearer forgot about him.  He continued to do what was right, even though I am sure he felt wrong!  

Don't you think Joseph struggled with intense feelings of betrayal, abandonment, anger, bitterness, and even hatred?  

He didn't allow those feelings to take hold.  If he had, he wouldn't have kissed his brothers, having forgiven them, after years and years.  

I have pondered these things throughout our study of Joseph.  They have really spoken to my heart during this time in my life.  Joseph's family had a covenant with God.  Joseph was a part of that covenant.  But guess what!  We also have a covenant with God!  It is a Messianic covenant paid for by Jesus Christ!  It is a covenant that can't be broken by our circumstances.  It is a covenant that makes us priests and ambassadors and heirs.  It makes us family with a King!  And that covenant is a sustaining force in the midst of trials.  Whether you are losing your health or losing your home, God is with you.  

It may seem unfair.  It just might be unfair.  But, God is the one in charge.