As I read through and pondered this story over the last two weeks, I really thought about Joseph’s life and I thought about where God placed him.

First, he was in essence, “overseeing things.” He had learned skills there and then he ended up over at Potiphar’s house, learning how to manage food, animals, etc. He would buy and sell and bring forth great profit to Potiphar. In prison, he was over the criminals of society, and one would think he is taking a step down. However, he is now more mature and he’s learned tremendous skills prior to this. Working with the ruffians of society, God was going to teach him how to deal with people—the worst kind of people. He would learn how to care for them, how to manage their needs, how to keep the peace among them, and so on.

Joseph did not sit around and wallow over his circumstances. He maintained his integrity before God and was prepared to deal with the prisoners. When he went to check on the baker and the cup bearer, he saw that they were grieved. He could have just slipped through with the routine telling them, “Here is your breakfast, just get over it” (their problems). Instead, he reached out to them to find out why these men were distraught.

Joseph was a person who brought light and life wherever he went because the favor of God was upon him. So, when he reached out to them, God spoke. (Ultimately it was used to bring him to the forefront of Pharaoh’s eyes and into Pharaohs’ court.) The baker and the cup bearer both told Joseph their dreams and he interpreted them, pleading with the cup bearer to remember him before Pharaoh, “I have been stolen from my land and placed in this jail without cause!” Joseph could’ve pleaded his case, but even now he did not risk bringing accusations or speaking ill of another human being so he just said, “I am innocent! Please remember me before Pharaoh. Please remember me.”

The baker is hanged and the cup bearer is sent back to his post, forgetting to honor Joseph’s request. I thought about this and the reality is that if Joseph had been brought out of prison, I do not know if the cup bearer would have had any leverage with Pharaoh to get Joseph released. But, if he had and they did release him, Joseph probably would have gone back home and, once again, would not have been in a position to save his lineage. God, in His sovereignty, was preserving Joseph.

So, two years later, Pharaoh has two dreams, bringing him a great deal of anguish and so he reaches out to all of his magicians. It is interesting because in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar also reached out to his magicians; we studied that in a precious section. They went out to the magicians and said, “Come on, come and help me because this dream is really bothering me,” yet the only ones who could bring them any peace were the children of God.

The cup bearer finally remembers Joseph and he goes to Pharaoh and tells him the story of what he and the cupbearer experienced with Joseph. (Of course, he has to remind Pharaoh that he had sent him to prison.) Joseph was brought out, cleaned up, and presented to Pharaoh. Finally, thirteen years later, Joseph reached the place God created him for—the position that would save the nations. All that Joseph really wanted to do was to go home to see his father.

Joseph tells Pharaoh the interpretation of his dreams and God gives Joseph a favor with Pharaoh. Joseph was learning the language of Egypt; we know this because when his brothers finally come, he speaks to them through a translator. So, he has learned the language, he has learned the ways of Egypt; he is made second in command to Pharaoh. The only one that is above Joseph in all the land is Pharaoh. Why? Because God had a plan in place to keep his covenant promise with Abraham and this was part of the plan. Joseph would endure trial after trial, unjust sufferings, false accusations, character assassinations—all to ensure the promises of God were fulfilled. His father grieved for decades over the loss of his son; God knew all about this. He knew the suffering that would take place, the anguish that even his brothers would begin to feel over what they put their father through, because Jacob never stopped grieving the loss of his son.

God is a God of promises and if He makes a promise to us, he will uphold that promise. If He gives you a promise, you need to remember the life of Joseph; you need to remember that Joseph was the vessel, because he allowed himself to be the vessel used by God to save the lineage of Abraham.

If Joseph had not submitted to God in His affliction, if he had become bitter and enraged, he would not have saved that lineage and the new covenant would have fallen to the ground. God knew Joseph could handle the trial. He knew he would stand there, a righteous man before God, a man of true integrity, pressed from the outside with the greatest of trials and he would still maintain a life of integrity. Why? Because he was a man who feared God, who loved God, and when thrust into the belly of sin, he would maintain his love for God above all else.

Joseph, longing to see his father, must stay in Egypt at the request of Pharaoh. He’d been endowed with great wisdom and having just interpreted the dream, understood the intensity of the situation, pushed his own desires aside and pressed on to prepare the nation of Egypt to survive its’ greatest tragedy in recent history. The young boy of 17, who was once sent out on errands to report to his father about his household, was being trained for a position that neither, at the time, knew or understood he would one day hold. Jacob thought he was simply training his son to manage the household. So, when Joseph’s father said to him, “Go check on your brothers! I need you to travel four days to check on your brothers,” Jacob didn’t know it would be nearly more than two decades before he would see his son again. But those two decades meant the difference between the life and death of their lineage.

To be continued next week…

Blessings & Love,
Ricci Wilson