The story of Joseph is the story of a favourite son who falls out of favour with his brothers. Sold into slavery, things go from bad to worse before they get better. By the time we reach the point in the story from which our reading comes, Joseph has been sold by his brothers, falsely accused and imprisoned and now forgotten again.
How much worse could it get?
Joseph could be forgiven for wondering where was God in all of this. Had he been abandoned by the God of his forebears. Any stories his father may have told him about God’s intervention in his life, the life of his father and the life of his grandfather must have seemed like distant, remote and unreal as he sat in prison falsely accused and forgotten.
But God never forgets who we are and where we are.
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. (Ps.56:8)
God never forgets, and he never forgot Joseph.
Where does it all begin?
The favourite son
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons (Gen. 37:3)
If Joseph was in any way arrogant, his father did little to remedy his condition. He made it very clear that Joseph was his favourite. He gave him a coat,a tunic that set him apart. Now I don’t know if Joseph wore it to please Jacob or to wind up his brothers, but it certainly achieved both.
The dreamer
If his coat wasn’t a big enough reminder of Joseph’s sense of importance, there were also his dreams. If you have a dream that you family will bow down before you then you can be sure of one thing: If they didn’t despise you before, they will now.
The rejected brother
So, when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 37:28
How must it have felt for Joseph to have listened to the plot his brothers hatched for him? How abandoned must he have felt, how much would you wanted pay-back?
A Slave in Egypt
Sold by his brothers, Joseph doesn’t exactly make a new life himself in Egypt, rather it is made for him. But what he does do is to keep faith with God.
How many people do you know who, when trouble comes, blame God and run from him? They will do almost anything except trust him and continue to walk the walk of faith with him.
We get a glimpse of Joseph’s integrity as he resists the advances of Potiphar’s wife. Eventually it cost him what freedom he has earned, and once again an item of clothing is used in evidence against him. First his many coloured tunic dipped in goat’s blood, now his cloak left at the scene of the so-called crime.
Take a moment to contrast the integrity of this rejected brother with Judah. Judah leaves home of his own volition but he chooses a different path to follow. He lacks integrity, he acts dishonestly and appears to get away with it until an identifying “item of clothing” reveals what he has done.
A prisoner in Egypt
I don’t know how long Joseph served Potiphar, but his slavery and imprisonment lasts 13 years.
That’s a long time to suffer a false accusation. But again, Joseph keeps faith with God and goes about his business the best he can.
All of this is preparation for what God will do, but as far as Joseph is concerned it simply the present tense of his experience. It’s all he knows, and he simply gets on with it.
Forgotten again
After 11 years in Egypt, Joseph finally sees an opportunity to make his appeal to the highest authority in the land. The chief baker and cup bearer were no mere servants in Pharaoh’s household. They had somehow displeased the king, found themselves thrown in prison, and now they had both had dreams.
It’s now that God begins to reveal his purposes for Joseph. In the midst of his suffering, his slavery and imprisonment, God begins to show his hand.
How often do we miss the intentional development of God’s purposes because we focus only on what we are enduring, rather that for which we might be being prepared? Remember Esther… for such a time as this.
This is not about knowing what God is preparing you to do, but being willing to be prepared. It’s turning suffering into something that has purpose rather than allowing to be something without purpose.
But once rescued, the cup bearer forgets about Joseph until the king needs him. I think forget means it was simply not convenient to remember him.
God’s purposes finally revealed
Pharaoh has his dream and Joseph’s time comes. But it’s not his charismatic ability to interpret dreams that is the ultimate goal for his life. God has not been working in his life in order to buid some great prophet ministry through Joseph. In reality it has been his ordinary demonstrations of faithfulness, good stewardship and trustworthiness that the attributes belonging to his long-term place in God’s unfolding plan.
What if, during all those years of captivity, Joseph had been good at interpreting dreams and bad at everything else? Do you think Pharaoh would still have put him in charge of all the land?
Joseph’s prime ministry was not the spectacular but the ordinary.
Lessons to learn
1. A matter of perspective.
We only see what surrounds us. We need God’s help to see beyond our circumstances and into his plan. Sometimes,like Esther, it’s the words of a friend, sometimes, like Joseph it’s just a matter of time.
2. No matter what the circumstances, Joseph’s life was always in God’s hands.
He may have been rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused, falsely imprisoned, but always his life was in God’s hands.
3. Be the best, whatever the situation
Joseph did not know what God’s ultimate goal was for his life. So he had to get on with life as it came to him. He had to face disappointment and rejection and yet find the strength to carry on and do what he was good at and do it well.
4. Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.
Actions, moral choices, do the right thing. Not based on outcomes, things did always go well for Joseph, but based upon honouring God.
Conclusion
Joseph makes two amazing observations about his circumstances. He says of his brothers actions:
You intended to harm me,but God intended it for good. (50:20)
And of his time in Egypt:
God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering (41:52)
Your circumstance may be challenging at this time, you may feel like you are living in the land of suffering rather than the land of promise (remember Joseph had left Canaan), but are you honouring God or doing what suits you.
Are you living like Joseph or are you living like his brother Judah?
