The next picture is that of Joseph. Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob. But he was also a great man of faith. Let us take a closer look at his life, shall we?
Joesph was the first born son of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel. His Father did not hid the fact that he loved Joesph more than his other sons. In fact, he really showed it when he made a very fancy coat for him that was many different colors. This made his other brothers' very jealous of him, for they wanted their Father's love too(Gen. 37:1-4).
Then, Joesph had a couple of dreams, and in these dreams it showed that his family would be bowing down to him like he was a ruler. This made his brothers even madder at him(Gen. 37:5-11).
One day, their Father, Jacob, sent Joesph out to check to make sure that his brothers & the family life stock were doing good or not. In obedience to his Father's wishes, Joesph does so. While he was far off, they saw him & plotted on how they could kill him(Gen.37:12-20). But his brother, Reuban wanted to save his life, so he told them to put him in a cistern instead. He said this for he had plans to go back later & take him back to their Father. But the other brothers sold Joesph into slavery without Reuban knowing it.
For some people, this would be reason to doubt God's goodness. But not Joesph! He continued to believe in the one true God. Because of his faithfulness to God, everything he put his hand to went well. When the captain of the king's army, Potiphar realized this, he put Joesph in charge of his household. All was going well, then Potiphar's wife got wondering eyes, and she tried to get him to have an affair with her. He refused. After much attempts & time, she got mad at him & told ties about him, which put him in prison.
Here again, most people would have gotten mad at God & quit servicing Him. But not Joesph! He just kept believing & serving God even though he was in prison. Soon the man who over saw the prison realized that all that Joesph put his hand to was blessed by God. So he too put him in charge of some of the other prisoners.
As time went on, a couple of the men under him had dreams & they told them to Joesph. Giving God the glory, he told them what the dreams meant. one of the men were to be restored to his job as the ruler's cup holder, the other man would die. Then he asked the man who was to be restored to remember him when he got his job back. But a last, the man forgot & Joesph was in prison for two more years. Yet, Joesph stayed true to God.
Finally, God gave the ruler a couple of dreams that no one was able to tell him what it meant. That is when the cupbearer remembered Joesph & told the ruler about him. The ruler had him brought before him to tell him what the dreams meant. Joesph not only told him that the dreams told of 7 years of good harvest & 7 years of famine, but told him how to make sure that his people would have food during the famine. The ruler was so impressed with Joesph that he put him in charge of overseeing the collection of the food.
Again, God blessed what Joesph put his hands to, and food was stored up to be used when the famine came. It went so well, that there was not only enough food for Egypt, but the region as well. So Joesph sold some of it to those in neighboring countries as well. That is when we see the dreams that Joesph had had as a boy come true. For his family was affected by the famine as well, & came to ask for some food from him,
They did not know who he was, but he knew them. He choice to not tell them yet. This is where I believe that he had to turn to God for strength to forgive his brothers. He did so, and blessed his family with the food that they needed so much. But he was not done. In the end, he told them who he was & had his family move to Egypt to be with him.
At the end of his life, Joesph spoke of his family leaving Egypt and going into the land that God had promised to his Fathers before him & gave them instructions to take his bones with them when they went. Which shows that he had held onto the faith that God would keep his promise (Heb. 11:22).
Joesph is a great example that our lives can have trials and hard times, even when we are doing everything right. He is also a great example of how we should keep the faith no matter what hardships may come our way. Remember, life may not be fair, but God is still good.
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