We’ve been studying the part of Genesis where Joseph is the prominent character.  The more I read about him, and think about his accomplishments, the more I admire him.  When asked to name prominent people in the Old Testament, I dare say that Joseph rarely comes to mind. Names like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah, Daniel, and others seem to pop into our heads before Joseph. Yet, his is an amazing story.

A spoiled, favorite son, he was sold into slavery and declared dead by his brothers.  He earned the trust of a very prominent man and eventually ran the man’s household. Falsely accused, he was thrown into a dingy prison for years.  Yet, Joseph became the second most powerful man in Egypt.  How did he do that?

First, he trusted God.  Because he was human, I can picture him sitting in the midst of his troubles with his head in his hands asking God “Why me? What did I do to deserve this?” But each and every time he did something good he gave God His due credit. He wanted God to receive the glory for working in his life. You can’t do that if you don’t trust Him.

And because he continued to trust God, Joseph always gave his best. That’s not usually how we do things, is it? Most of the time, when things aren’t going well, we seem to put forth less effort; just enough to get by. Imagine Joseph on his first day of slavery in Potiphar’s house and his new “master” commands him to wash his feet (or some other lowly task). I suspect that Potiphar may have gotten the best foot-washing of his life. 

Please note that it didn’t happen overnight.  The record shows there were 13 years of “ups and downs” before his purpose was realized.  So what do we make of Joseph that we should apply to our situation? Three basic things stand out.

Bro. Tony