Some Thoughts on Joseph.

I've taken on what some might call an ambitious goal this year. I want to try to read through the Bible at least twice, but preferably at least three times.

I have e-sword installed on my computer, which is a free bible study software. It lets you set an individualized Bible reading plan, and I have mine set for three months through the Word.

I've already faltered a bit, having started with the New year, but I have managed to read three out of five days so far.

This mornings reading started with Jacob deceiving his father Isaac, stealing his brothers blessing, and fleeing to Laban for refuge. It ended with Joseph and Potiphars wife.


What got me thinking this morning was that Joseph served his masters and jailers, in fact his heart was one of service even to other captives, and I wondered if perhaps the rough treatment that he took as a child from his brothers had become an asset rather than a liability?

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I heard in a talk the other night, that God doesn't necessarily exempt us from suffering, but he develops our character through it. In E.M. Bounds books on prayer, "The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer", he talks of troubles and prayer. He seems to think that trouble is God's way of creating depth in the believer. It seems that nothing gains strength by lack of resistance. Think of men who train for sports, war, or business. The effort that went into developing the skills and abilities were not gained by merely thinking good thoughts or sleeping the day away. What's the old adage? No Pain, No Gain?

So, back to Joseph. We are told his brothers hated him (Genesis 37:4). They hated him with a jealous hatred, because his father loved him the most, and because he revealed their evil doings. His brothers were violent bloodthirsty men, Judah was willing to seek after a harlot, yet willing to kill his daughter in law for harlotry. Harlotry that he himself was the cause of.

Joseph brothers despised him, sold him into slavery, and lied to their father for years about it. They told him that they did not know what happened to Joseph, only that they had found his blood soaked coat of many colors.

Through it all, I think that perhaps Joseph had learned to serve his unrighteous, wicked, mean spirited, hate filled brothers so that he could avoid their wrath. I think he suffered under their hands, and I think that he probably hated every minute of trouble they gave him, and wondered if there were any escape, any one to deliver him. I think that maybe he would have wondered how God could ever allow him to go through such trials.

Maybe though, all that trouble paid off. The powerful men that Joseph worked under, Potiphar, the jailers, and Pharaoh himself all may have been hard men to work under, but were they as wicked in action as his brothers? I don't think we can know for sure, but those men may have been easier to serve under than the ten sons of Jacob that could murder an entire city of men, and sell their own brother into slavery. I think God used the trials of Josephs youth to prepare him to serve and be lifted up later in life.

Just a thought or two, but maybe trials, troubles, and suffering really can build us up and prepare us for the work God has for us.