Waypoints: Joseph’s Prison/Promotion

The first thing that comes to mind for most of us when we think of Joseph is his "coat of many colors" but that is really such a small part of the story. In fact, I would say that it is really quite a minor piece of what really matters regarding Joseph. The coat is essentially a prelude to the big stuff. The coat sets things in motion so to speak but from there it becomes an afterthought.

The main thing to consider in Joseph's life is God's providence combined with His ability to redeem anything placed in His hands. The journey of Joseph is filled with twists and turns worthy of Hollywood and of course Hollywood has attempted it a few times but it always falls short of the true biblical drama. It combines a messy family, injustice, slavery, imprisonment, dream interpretation, lust, lies and promotion to bring us to the point where Joseph is the second most powerful person in the land. I would argue that since Joseph was on God's side he was the most powerful person in the land.

Joseph ends up being truly one of the greatest characters in the Bible when it comes to trusting and obeying God. Time and time again we see him honoring God even when it is going to cost him something. He was a man of great integrity who improved the situation for even the people that were using or abusing him. It is one of the great examples in the history of humanity where God so boldly proclaims "in the end I always win.” So the glory of Joseph was simply that he agreed with that fact.

I wish I could claim that I have been as filled with faith and integrity as Joseph was but I can't. What I can claim though is that I have found that God has acted the same in my day as He did in Joseph's day. In the end it is a much better and more important message for me to tell you God is still the same God than it would be for me to tell you how much like Joseph I am.

There is one who came after Joseph who was far better than even Joseph at living out a life of obedience to the Father. That would be Jesus of course and His perfect obedience gets applied to our accounts so that is far superior to just a really cool story about Joseph's amazing life. Just as Joseph was able to be the deliverer of his family - Jesus makes us part of His family and then delivers us.

God is at work and there is no life that cannot be brought back into His Kingdom. God used all the junk in Joseph's life to do amazing things. God used the greatest injustice in the history of the world to set me free. God wants all the things that make up your life to be handed over to Him - none of it will be wasted.

Trusting in the God of Joseph,
Pastor Nick