Even though the saga comes 'round to a great conclusion, I do not like the story of Joseph all that much. It makes me understand that God may choose to use people and situations that are not necessarily pleasant or of my choosing to implement His sovereign plan for this world. Joseph's long journey through slavery and suffering runs headlong into my sense of self-importance! It teaches me that my personal happiness is not God's paramount purpose.
In my American mind, which values personal fulfillment, the thought that God might allow us to suffer as He works out His plan is very, very hard to accept!
Here's a thumbnail sketch of Joseph's story, which is recorded in the book of Genesis. His father loved him, perhaps too much, and set him apart from his brothers with expensive gifts. God, in His own purposes, chose him and gave him dreams about a time when he would rule over his family, enjoying unheard of prominence despite being far down the line in the family order. His brothers hated him because he was favored by their father and God. When they had the chance, those jealous siblings got rid of him by selling him to slave-traders. They took him hundreds of miles from his home to Egypt. So much for dreams of destiny, or so it seemed; but, he didn't surrender to despair. Sold to Potiphar, a nobleman, he worked hard and was soon appointed to manage the household. Then, Potiphar's wife took an unhealthy interest in him. When he wouldn't cooperate with her, she made up a charge of rape and he was jailed. Faithful again, Joseph soon was made a trustee and was running the jail! Years passed and two men from the king's court were jailed with him. They had dreams and he interpreted them for them. He asked the man who was going back to serve Pharaoh to please remember him. He didn't -at least for a few years - until Pharaoh had a nightmare that defied understanding. Then, the man remembered Joseph and Pharaoh sent for him. After decades of disappointment, Joseph finally came to the place that God promised to him when he was a teenage boy. He became the Prime Minister of Egypt.
Whew! That's a long route from promise to blessing, isn't it? Joseph must have been tempted to wonder, "What's going on?" Has God forgotten me? Why is all this happening to me?" But, he had faith and his God-given dream of destiny to which he held tightly... waiting, trusting,hopeful!
How do I know that? Because of his own words. When Joseph was at the pinnacle of power and his poor brothers came into his court seeking food and favors, not knowing they were standing in the presence of the person they sold to slave-traders years before, he told them this: "But don't be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. These two years of famine will grow to seven, during which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive so that you will become a great nation. Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh-manager of his entire household and ruler over all Egypt." (Genesis 45:5-8, NLT) God used the circuitous route that led through slavery and prison to produce a man that would save a nation and his own family.If God loves me (and He does, very much!) how could he ask me to suffer?
Because He is perfecting us for His purposes, purposes which reach much more widely than we can see, given our finiteness. God is amazingly at work to bring all circumstances- good and bad- to a place where His will is done. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:28-31, NIV)
Living in that truth requires a great faith-
which God will provide to us, if we ask!
If you're in a place where you're asking, "What's going on?" read the Psalm of Patience (Psalm 37). The lead verbs in that Psalm pointthe way to endurance, the way to let God's will emerge from the pyre on which self is offered up to His purposes.
"Trust in the LORD.
Delight inthe LORD.
Commit your way to the LORD.
Be still before the LORD.
Wait onthe LORD!"
Take this word from the Word to heart and let God love you today:
"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods." (Psalm 40:1-4, NIV)
__________________
The Lord's our Rock,
In Him we hide,
A shelter in the time of storm,
Secure whatever ill betide,
A shelter in the time of storm.
Oh, Jesus, is the Rock
in a weary land, a weary land, a weary land,
Oh, Jesus is the Rock in a weary land,
A shelter in the time of storm.
- public domain
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