The Life of Joseph

by John Thomas

One of the greatest examples for young people in the Bible is Joseph. The story of his life begins with the death of his mother at his brother's birth! Genesis 37:2 tells us that he is just seventeen years old at the events, which lead him to being sold into slavery by his brothers. He was the favored son and that made his brothers jealous of him. His older brother Reuben talks the other brothers out of killing him. . . .so he's thrown in a pit. Then he is reduced from a brother to a slave when sold to the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. He is tempted by a powerful woman (Potiphar's wife) to do wrong. When he did not participate with her, she accussed him wrongfully of the one who had tempted her. He is thrown into prison for this. Then he is betrayed in a sense by the chIef butler who he had befriended in prison. He asked to be remembered, but he was soon forgotten once the chiefbutler's life got back to normal. (It's easy to forget others when everything is well in our lives isn't it)? He is slapped in the face by his brothers. After what they had done to him, they came to Egypt and had the nerve to ask him for food! Then he goes through a famine and has responsibility to make sure all the people got fed. After all he has been through, why should he have to worry about a bunch of people who didn't bother preparing themselves? Then his father dies.
Remember Joseph the dreamer? Why did he tell the dream to his brothers? Did he not know that if he told him he dreamed about ruling over them that it would make them mad? He apparently was real naIve or real arrogant at this point in his life.
Remember he was seventeen. Think of how his life changed. Think about how he changed...how he matured. He would grow to be a man of God and we see that every time something bad happened in his life, he still trusted in God and God would bless him! For every down there was an up. Every time there was an up, it was bigger and better than the last up. He ended up being second in wmmand over Egypt behind Pharaoh himself! Egypt was the mightiest nation on earth at this time.
In the end, his enslavement saves his family. His brother's relationships are restored and reconciled. He becomes more powerful than the one who throws him in prison (his wife too). The chief butler remembers him... it just took some time... and it was the right time! He is able to be the savior of his family and they did bow before him. He gets the respect of those people whom he keeps and they bow before him. He sees his beloved father and spends some time with him before he dies. His father is happy as well. He overcame the obstacles because he had God at the forefront of his life. There is no other way for a Hebrew boy to become second in command of Egypt. He went from dreamer to interpreter of dreams and he sees all the rewards of following God! Let's all grow
lip and mature like Joseph and see our reward!