What does the life of Joseph teach us? One thing, I think, is that we must always be ready. We cannot know what God is preparing us for. How could Joseph know that his years in slavery, in prison were preparing him to render a most valuable service to the Pharaoh and thus be in exactly the position that God wanted to preserve Israel from the famine that was coming. And how could Israel know that their time in Egypt would prepare them to be a mighty nation? Being ready is an important part of the call of Christianity.....always ready to serve, always ready to love, always ready to render and account and to speak the good news of Jesus Christ.
The there is the importance of planning......of course we do not know the number of days in our lives, but the story of Joseph and his preparation for the days of famine tells us that we should not live as though we will not be responsible if tomorrow comes. One of the best ways to plan for the future is to seek God's will and to acquire all of the wisdom that you can. One of the ways that you can do that is to do just what you are doing.....be in God's word and learn the lessons that God is ready to teach us when we invest ourselves in the scriptures.
One more thing......the dry times, the time of testing and preparation can be a long one. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers at the age of 17. According to our reading, he was elevated to a position of power by Pharaoh at the age of 30. 13 years of slavery and service before God asks him to stand before men and do this mighty thing. We should always be preparing....always be ready.....always be confident that God is at work in our circumstance.
Something that I noticed about the saga of Joseph, is that he's really the first individual we come along with whose only been in contact with God via dreams or visions. Before him, all his ancestors actally stood in the presence of God, spoke with God.
ReplyDeleteIf you look back, you can see that Adam, Caine and Able, Noah, Abraham, Lot, even Issac physically grappled with God. Joseph is the first example of a life fully lived by faith, never having actually seen God face to face.