I've read a couple of books authored by Max Lucado on the story of Joseph, and I have been moved by some of his thoughts. We all know that before Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers that God spoke to him through two dreams and revealed to Joseph that one day his family would bow to him. I am convinced that God was telling Joseph you are not going to be worshipped, but soon something is going to happen to you and these dreams are going to remind you to hold on, because I am God and I have told you your family will bow down to you. So as Joseph was led off in chains and his pleas for mercy to his brothers went unheard, this would have presented a great moment for him to have a crises of faith, and not only this but all the other things that happened to him along the way as well. Being falsely accused and imprisoned for rape, to telling another good news and asking him to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf only to be forgotten. Joseph had many moments to forget his two dreams. Yet, he held on. It is as though while wearing the heavy chains of the slave owners, he knew, I've been called to more than this (Max Lucado).
I have no clue why all this happened the way it did, but I do have a thought. The enemy was aware that God was going to bring his son into the world through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If he could destroy the line he would prevent God's plan from coming into fruition. So he used every means within his power to destroy Joseph, first by enslaving him, then imprisoning him. With Joseph safely tucked away in the dungeons of Egypt, there would be no way the line could be preserved, assuming he knew about the famine that was coming. This would keep the Israelites from being able to find refuge in Egypt when the famine struck, and they would subsequently die off. It is a facade, because God's power always trumps Satan's plans. Joseph did endure and remained faithful and hopeful and God rescued him in a big way.
Lucado also made a comment about Joseph being in prison that I absolutely love. He said, The dungeon looked like a prison, smelled like a prison, sounded like a prison, but had you asked the angels of heaven about Joseph's location they would have replied, "Oh, he's in boot camp." Yes! Because when I'm in the prison or the pit, I only have to remember; My Father said he will do this and I might not understand how he is going to accomplish through this mess, but I do know without a doubt it's gonna happen, so I'm going to believe and wait.
I'm struck at the difference in the way the Israelites would react to similar actions 400 years after Joseph, when Moses comes back and tells them, God is going to rescue you from Pharaoh, and you will no longer be slaves, but live as free men. Then Moses proceeded to go tell Pharaoh that God said let my people go and the first thing Pharaoh did was increase the burden and labor of the slaves. Yet, instead of saying to themselves, "Uh oh, Mr. Pharaoh you shouldn't do this because you are going to make our God mad". They instead whined about what unfair demands they have been saddled with.
They have been enslaved for 400 years and Moses had just told them what God was going to do. Yet their response was to whine. Why not look down the road and say God said he will rescue us so that's what is going to happen and while Pharaoh may think he's hurting us all he is doing is making God mad and we are going to be rescued soon. Let's celebrate and make the last few batches of bricks for this tyrant and see what God will do.
For me today, I live under the covenant of God, yet I've neglected to remember the promises of his covenant, and I have been bitter and angry at times. Now as I read the word and listen to his revelations I want to write the promises down so I will be more like Joseph and know it's going to happen regardless of whether I can understand how, but I will believe because my God said it's going to happen and that is good enough for me.
