Trusting God in Trials

Joseph! What an example he is of trusting God in trials! 

 This young man, whom God used to save many lives, is at the center of one of the Bible’s greatest stories. Every time I read this story I am so encouraged at how amazing God’s plans are and how He accomplishes His plans through the lives of individuals for ultimate good.

This story is found in the book of Genesis and tells us that Joseph’s father Jacob had a special love for his youngest son, the son of his beloved wife Rachel,  and his older ten brothers despised him because of it.

 Their jealousy of Joseph escalated after their father gave him a special colorful robe and especially after Joseph told his brothers  two dreams he had – dreams that were interpreted by his brothers as Joseph becoming powerful enough that they were bowing down to him! Even Joseph’s father expressed disapproval of Joseph’s dreams.

 That was the last straw for these brothers….they did not want to put up with him any longer.

Their opportunity to get rid of him presented itself when he came to visit them in the area where they were tending their flocks. Their first intention was to murder him but the oldest brother Rueben was not agreeable to that. Instead, they threw Joseph in a dark pit while they figured out what to do with him. 

When a caravan of Ishmaelite traders was passing by on the way to Egypt, they seized the opportunity to sell him as a slave. To cover up what they did to Joseph, they dipped his robe in blood and took it back to their father when they went home. They were able to fool their father into thinking that Joseph was killed by a wild animal, and his father was deeply grieved.

Joseph’s story continued in Egypt. Everything he did, God blessed it, and those he worked for. For a while, life was pretty decent, he was bought by Potiphar, who put him in charge of his household.

Trouble was brewing!

Because Joseph was a handsome man and well-built, the wife of his boss wanted to ‘sleep with him’. Can you imagine how tempting this would have been for this young man? Even in this temptation, Joseph did not sin against God. 

When she realized that Joseph would not lie with her, She set him  up -and claimed that Joseph tried to take advantage of her! Her husband believed her and threw Joseph into prison – though he was innocent. How unfair and devastating!

How do we react when we are wrongly accused? Imagine doing what was right and getting into grave trouble because of it. 

Joseph, however, continued to trust in God and did not complain. In Genesis 39:21-22 we read this account:

“ But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.”

 Joseph’s life was not turning out as he might have expected. What about those dreams he had?

Joseph trusted God!

While he was in prison, Joseph had the opportunity to interpret dreams for a couple of the king’s servants, a butler and a baker, who had also been thrown in prison. The interpretations of the dreams turned out to be exactly right.

The chief butler was released and received his job back. Joseph had asked him to remember him when he got out of prison. However, that did not happen for two whole years! On a couple of occasions,  the king had troublesome dreams and  he searched unsuccessfully, for someone to interpret them. Finally the butler remembered Joseph, who had interpreted his dream correctly and told the King his experience with Joseph.

Joseph was soon summoned from prison, and after cleaning himself up and shaving, he presented himself to the king. That must have been wonderful  to see the light of day again after being in a dungeon for so long!

Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there’s  no one who can interpret it. I heard that you can understand a dream and interpret it. Joseph told him, I can not tell you but, God will give you an answer of peace.

Joseph was very confident that the Lord his God would interpret the dream for the king and that the interpretation would be accurate. 

Joseph was finally getting to the reason for his captivity and slavery. God was about to use him in a mighty way.

The interpretation of the dream was a revelation from God that there was going to be 7 years of great plenty followed by 7 years of great famine  in Egypt and the famine would affect many surrounding areas.

Pharaoh desired to find a man who was discreet and wise, to set him over the land of Egypt to prepare for the famine to come. Pharaoh quickly realized that Joseph was the man for the job, saying that there was none so discreet and wise as him.

Quite suddenly now, Joseph had a very high position. He was set over all the land of Egypt, was given a ring from pharaoh‘s hand,  was given fine linen to wear, and a gold chain for his neck. He was honoured with a ride in the second chariot throughout the area with people crying out before him, Bow the knee. Pharaoh gave him a wife, and all of a sudden his life was dramatically different!

It was about 13 long years since his brothers had sold him into slavery.

In his new role, Joseph wisely carried out his duties of gathering up all the extra food and laid it up for the upcoming seven years of famine. Egypt was well prepared; God had prepared Joseph for this time.

And the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened up the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians, and the famine was great in the land of Egypt.

Joseph’s father, Jacob and his brothers were experiencing the famine in their country too, and Jacob, hearing that there was food for sale in Egypt told his sons to go to there to get food for them, which they did.

This is where it gets really interesting!

Joseph’s brothers come into his presence, bowed down with their faces to the earth, looking to buy food. They do not recognize him but he recognizes them. Joseph  understands what they are saying to one another, but they do not know that. 

Joseph, remembering the dreams he had as a young youth, spoke to them, harshly at first and accused them of being spies. He asked about their father, and he discovered that he had another brother, one who was born to his own mother.(His other brothers were half brothers)

Joseph was not sure if his brothers were now honest men or not and tested their integrity.

Joseph, held one of the brothers in prison while he sent the other  brothers home and told them not to come back, unless they had their youngest brother with them. He also had the silver they paid for the food returned to their sacks.

After returning home, the brothers told their father, Jacob,  that they could not get any more food supplies unless Benjamin went to Egypt  with them. Jacob adamantly refused at first, however, because of the famine, he did relent after some time passed, and the brothers went back to Egypt with Benjamin to buy more food. 

When they returned, with his youngest brother, Joseph was overwhelmed, and left their presence to weep privately.

Later, Joseph  had all his brothers sit down for a banquet together, and seated them all in order of age and his brothers wondered how Joseph did that!

As they were leaving to go back home a second time, Joseph tested them again. He had their silver returned to the top of their sacks and had his own silver cup placed in the top of Benjamin’s sack. I suspect Joseph wondered how his brothers would deal with this situation when they realized they would have to go home without their younger brother. Would they abandon him and look after themselves or stand up for him?

When the brother’s sacks are searched and the silver cup is found in Benjamin’s sack, they all had to return to Egypt. Judah speaks to Joseph for the brothers: 

 Judah replied, “What can we say to my master? What words can we use? How can we prove we are innocent? God has found your servants guilty. We are now your slaves, all of us, including the one found with the cup.”

Joseph said, “I’d never do such a thing. Only the man found with the cup will be my slave. As for the rest of you, you are free to go back to your father.”

Judah appeals for Benjamin

 Judah approached him and said, “Please, my master, allow your servant to say something to my master without getting angry with your servant since you are like Pharaoh himself.  My master asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or brother?’  And we said to my master, ‘Yes, we have an elderly father and a young brother, born when he was old. His brother is dead and he’s his mother’s only child. But his father loves him.’  You told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him.’ And we said to my master, ‘The young man can’t leave his father. If he leaves, his father will die.’ You said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother doesn’t come down with you, you’ll never see my face again.’

“When we went back to my father your servant, we told him what you said.  Our father told us, ‘Go back and buy for us a little food.’ But we said, ‘We can’t go down. We will go down only if our youngest brother is with us. We won’t be able to gain an audience with the man without our youngest brother with us.’  Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave birth to two sons for me. One disappeared and I said, “He must have been torn up by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since.  And if you take this one from me too, something terrible will happen to him, and you will send me—old as I am—to my grave in despair.’  When I now go back to your servant my father without the young man—whose life is so bound up with his—  and when he sees that the young man isn’t with us, he will die, and your servants will have sent our father your servant—old as he is—to his grave in grief.  I, your servant, guaranteed the young man’s safety to my father, telling him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, it will be my fault forever.’  Now, please let your servant stay as your slave instead of the young man so that he can go back with his brothers.  How can I go back to my father without the young man? I couldn’t bear to see how badly my father would be hurt.”

Joseph could no longer control himself in front of all his attendants, so he declared, “Everyone, leave now!” So no one stayed with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s household heard him. Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m Joseph! Is my father really still alive?” His brothers couldn’t respond because they were terrified before him.

Hearing the words “I’m Joseph” terrified his brothers and rightly so  because of what they had done to him.

Now they probably were remembering those annoying dreams Joseph told them about when he was just a young hated brother and wondered what might happen to them as this was Joseph’s opportunity to have his revenge!

BUT read what he has to say to his brothers!

 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” and they moved closer. He said, “I’m your brother Joseph! The one you sold to Egypt. Now, don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Actually, God sent me before you to save lives. We’ve already had two years of famine in the land, and there are five years left without planting or harvesting. God sent me before you to make sure you’d survive and to rescue your lives in this amazing way. You didn’t send me here; it was God who made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his entire household, and ruler of the whole land of Egypt.

 “Hurry! Go back to your father. Tell him this is what your son Joseph says: ‘God has made me master of all of Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t delay.  You may live in the land of Goshen, so you will be near me, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everyone with you.  I will support you there, so you, your household, and everyone with you won’t starve, since the famine will still last five years.’  You and my brother Benjamin have seen with your own eyes that I’m speaking to you.  Tell my father about my power in Egypt and about everything you’ve seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”  He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. He kissed all of his brothers and wept, embracing them. After that, his brothers were finally able to talk to him.

 Can you just imagine the scene when Joseph’s brothers arrive home to confess to their father what they had done to Joseph? 

Can you imagine the shock Jacob felt  at hearing these words? He had been grieving Joseph’s death for 13 long years.

 Can you imagine the joy and anticipation in Jacob that would bubble up at the words of Joseph, “Hurry and bring my father down here.”

This story gives me so much encouragement as once again God demonstrates that His ways are so much higher than our ways!

We may have to wait some time- maybe even till eternity-  to understand why events in our lives came about as they did.

Joseph is one of my favorite people from the Bible. His unwavering faith and trust in God throughout his severe trials is so inspiring. 

Prayer of Response

Father, God, you know everything about my life. You’ve known everything about my life before I was ever born. What an amazing thought that is! You knew every valley and mountain top experience I would have and you are with me in all of it.

Help all of us, Lord, all who have put our trust in you to never waiver when we are discouraged, when circumstances are bleak, even looking hopeless and we don’t know our way forward. 

May we find courage and trust in you as we remember your faithfulness in our lives and in the lives of others.

May we stand firmly on the rock of our salvation knowing that you are a good God and that you work all things out for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

 Make our  lives a blessing to others Father and may we be faithful to you until you call us home.

 We praise you in Jesus name, Amen

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