In the Book of Genesis we meet the son of Jacob, Joseph. He persevered through anguish, with a life that lead to show God in all angles of his life.
The life of Joseph is filled with many ups, downs, trials, forgiveness, sorrow, guilt, grace, mercy, and so much more. I believe we can take away many things from Joseph’s life from the time he was a teenager. When God gave him the dream that his brothers and father would bow down to him. Being thrown into a pit and sold as a slave. Then going to prison for something he did not do. Leading into becoming second in all of Egypt overseeing the food during the 7 years of famine. I want to dive into some of the things I have taken away that we can use in our everyday lives. In the first part of this series I will go over one of the take aways I got from the life of Joseph.
Faithfulness
Staying faithful is not an easy thing to always do especially in a world where we have social media, 9-5 jobs, family events, or just trying to wind down watching our favorite show. Well I tend to some times think how hard it would be if we didn’t ever have all those distractions. Thankfully we can find out many teachings about the Bible on the internet. Follow our favorite preachers on social media. Listen to worship music on Spotify any time we so choose. Imagine being thrown into a pit by your own family. No one knew, there was no cell phone to call 911. Just a lonely time where mentally it would be very easy to just give up. As arrogant as Joseph may have been by telling them all about his dreams, maybe making it sound like he was owed their respect and probably did not do it with much humility. (Genesis 37:8-10) It still makes me wonder how could those the closest to you, just simply throw you away like garbage. As much as they hated him at the time, with no distractions, that is quiet a bit of time to sit and think about your actions.
In the midst of this interaction after being sold, I can only imagine it was difficult for Joseph to stay faithful, and rely on the promise God gave him those nights. Contemplating what was even happening with his life. Where did my family go? I know I would be asking, is this real? How can this work out? Did God get it wrong? I assure you I would even becoming angry at my family, myself, and even God. Yet Joseph still had the faith after being sold to serve Potiphar to honor him and serve him well. (Genesis 39:2-4) It would truly be easy for Joseph to have bitterness and resentment in the situation he was put in. Instead he trusted in the God of the universe, to guide his path.
What is God showing us through trials?
I believe God allows us to go through tough times, he is always there when we turn to Him. Certainly it would be easy to thank Him when times in our lives are easy. What type of faith would we have if things only went well in our lives? How can he teach us to love each other if people do not ever make mistakes, or hurt us. Not saying we want others to betray us, but it does happen. It happened all throughout the Bible. We are not perfect, so therefor, it would benefit us to have some opportunity to show our faith in Christ without everything going perfectly in our lives.
What about when we feel as though we are alone, in a pit of depression, anxiety, addiction, self doubt. All of these moments and feelings we as humans, especially men are common. Its no shame to have these feelings and go through times in life where we are in a pit. A dark very lonely place. If God were to just pull us out immediately, for one we would not feel the need to rely on him. His miracles in our lives would not be as glorified. Secondly, how can we ever grow in character and faith. In my eyes they go hand in hand, when you have faith in our savior Jesus Christ you began to have a character more like Jesus which is ultimately what we are striving for to be more like him.
Next week I look forward to diving more into Joseph’s life after he was sold as a slave. How he stayed patient in some tougher times. What it was that kept him facing God and not his circumstances.
