Earlier this week my daily devotional time took me through the story of Joseph… Remember him? He was the original “cast off” of Survivor…
He grew up in a highly dysfunctional family. Because Joseph was the son born in Jacob’s old age, he was Jacob’s favorite. Joe was a “daddy’s boy.” Jake had twelve sons and he made no apology at all for the fact that out of all twelve boys, Joe was the one he loved more than them all…
The result? According to Genesis 37:4, Joe’s brothers “…hated Joseph because of their father’s partiality…” This sibling rivalry went so deep that Joe’s brothers wouldn’t even speak to him because of Jake’s favoritism…
Finally, one day this band of brothers got the opportunity they had been looking for… Jake sent Joe to check on his brothers… Genesis 37:18-20 says, “When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they exclaimed.
They didn’t even call Joe by his first name… They just labeled him as “that dreamer.” “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into a deep pit…”
Ultimately, instead of killing Joe, they threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver, which was the going price for a handicapped slave…
Joe was taken to Egypt and sold to a guy named Potiphar… But one phrase keeps showing up again and again in the story of Joseph… It’s this phrase: “…the Lord was with Joseph…” “…the Lord was with Joseph…”
While working for Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife made several moves on Joe. Amazingly this twenty something year old stud resisted all of her advances. But you’ve heard the saying, “Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned…” Joe is about to catch a boat load...
Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of rape… Joe was unjustly arrested and imprisoned… His life was turned inside out, upside down… But somehow he continued to live with this incredible awareness, “God is with me…”
Eventually, Joseph became the second most powerful man in all of Egypt… Second only to Pharaoh. He was reunited with the same band of brothers that sold him into slavery… His brothers show up needing his help. They don’t recognize him, but he recognizes them. Payback is one breath away… Joe is in a place to make his brother’s pay dearly for the injustice they perpetrated on his life… Finally, he can settle the score. But instead of getting even, this was Joe’s response…
Genesis 45:5-8 (GN) ...do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people's lives. 6 This is only the second year of famine in the land; there will be five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor reaping. 7 God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive. 8 So it was not really you who sent me here, but God. He has made me the king's highest official. I am in charge of his whole country; I am the ruler of all Egypt.
Wow! I’ve read this passage several times through the years, but earlier this week it stopped me dead in my tracks…
There’s one thought that shows up again and again in these four brief verses. Joseph keeps repeating this thought: “God sent me… God sent me… it was not really you, but God… God made me the king’s highest official…”
Somehow the passing of time gave Joe perspective on the purpose and plan of God… Looking back on his life he could see how God had orchestrated everything in his life to place him in a position so he could act as an agent of God on behalf of a whole lot of people… By the time Joe had the opportunity to get even, God had so worked in his heart that instead of getting even, he realized, “God was always working behind the scenes… Even through the actions of some really unscrupulous people…”
Think about that for just a minute… I thought about it earlier this week…
You can bet Joe was singing a different song the first night he spent alone in a slave trader’s caravan… I can guarantee you he wasn’t thinking, “God sent me… I’m so glad to be separated from Dad, his American Express Gold Card and be a part of this chain gang…”
You can bet Joe wasn’t nearly as faith filled and positive the first night he spent in prison on trumped up charges by a woman who probably auditioned for Egypt’s first “girls gone wild” video shoot… You can bet he wasn’t thinking, “Wow! I really like my new room mates… I’m so glad I’m here instead of in that cozy pad over at Potiphar’s place…”
If I believe anything at all, I’ve got to believe that Joseph probably struggled with the same kind of fear, doubt and questions we all struggle with… But somehow he chose to believe... “God has a purpose for whatever is going on in my life… I choose to trust Him…”
God finally exalted and vindicated Joseph… God finally set things straight… And when Joseph looked back on more than thirteen years of suffering, pain, questions and doubt, he could see the hand of God working behind the scenes the whole time…
Regardless of what's going on in my life or your life, this is something we desperately need to remember...
A few years ago, a guy by the name of Micheal Been wrote one of my all time favorite songs. It was eventually recorded by Russ Taff, one of the killer singers of all time... Don't believe it? Download his cover of this tune on I-tunes... Wow!
I’ll close this post with these lyrics… Maybe these lyrics represent the kind of tenacious faith that kept Joe going despite everything that occurred in his life… Maybe this is the kind of faith that you and I desperately need to get us through the next day, month of year…
I STILL BELIEVE
I've been in a cave
For forty days
Only a spark
To light my way
I want to give out
I want to give in
This is our crime
This is our sin
But I still believe
I still believe
Through the pain
And through the grief
Through the lies
And through the storms
Through the cries
And through the wars
I still believe
Flat on my back
Out at sea
Hoping these waves
Don't cover me
I'm turned and tossed
Upon the waves
When the darkness comes
I feel the grave
But I still believe
I still believe
Through the cold and through the heat
through the rain
And through the tears
Through the crowds
And through the cheers
I still believe
I'll march this road
I'll climb this hill
Upon my knees If I have to
I'll take my place
Upon this stage
I'll wait till the end of time
For You
For people like us
In places like this
We need all the hope
That we can get
I still believe
I still believe
Through the shame
And through the grief
Through the heartache
And through the tears
Through the waiting
And through the years
I still believe
Words and music by Michael Been and J. Goodwin
1986 Neeb/Tarka Music/Ascap, Tileface Music (BMI)
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