JOSEPH - SOLD INTO DESTINY

Joseph had a dream- that he was going to be a ruler.In a family and a culture where the firstborn status and seniority in the family was very important (something their father had worked hard to get), if his dreams were anything to go by, then he had become a threat to the worth of his elder brothers. His brothers could not imagine themselves bowing to their younger brother sometime in the future, whether near or far. Joseph was about to break the status quo, and they didn't find that amusing.
It is very interesting where the fulfillment of this dream started; the very beginning  was the exact point where he should have been discouraged from pursuing his dream. 

First, he 'ends down' in a pit, awaiting a probable death sentence for no offense but that of having a dream of being great in his generation, then sold for a few coins into slavery.  His brothers had to find a way of killing the dream, and the best way (to them) was to kill the dreamer. (i.e. if you want to get rid of the smoke, get rid of the fire)

...So come on now, let us kill him ... and we shall see what will become of his dreams!     Gen 37:20 

1. Everyone with a God-given dream is a target of one enemy or the other. That enemy sees you as a threat.The bigger your dream, the stronger your adversaries.

Though his coming out of the pit was nothing short of a miracle, his status had changed- from a freeman to a slave. From this point, everything started going in opposite directions for Joseph. Instead of progressing in life towards his dreams, he found his life spiraling deeper and deeper. Day after day, he realized how far he was moving away from his dream; things unfolded in such a way that the realization of this dream became more and more 'impossible'. The reality was that, unless there was a miracle, he was going to spend the rest of his youth as a slave and probably die as one. As if all these were not enough, he lands in prison. For what? Just being faithful to God.

2. Remaining faithful to God in times of adversity is very expensive; It will take you out of your comfort zone, yes! even the little comfort you have.

All these circumstances were not enough for him to throw his arms in the air, question the integrity and faithfulness of God and then get negative and focus on how impossible  the realization of his dream must have been, poisoning his future with words like these :

• This is the end of the road for me; my dream is never going to come to pass, the dream is not true. I must have been deceived.
• I'm probably going to spend my entire life as a slave in a strange land
• Now that I'm in prison, everything is over. Even God must have forgotten about me by now

• Why me?! Why is life so cruel to me, what have I done to you, God?

It is very important that when you find yourself in situations like these, you fix your eyes on the word of God (what God has said about you). You are very likely to hear many voices but be strong enough to stand by the word of God (the promise).
One such voice is that of Satan. In the case of Joseph,the devil would have said something like this,

"If there's really a God of your Forefathers, and this God loves you, why would He look on while you are going through this?, are you sure you are not being a fool? If there's really a God like that, wouldn't He rather reward you for being faithful to Him? Have you seen anyone faithful to God who has been punished like this. Even if there is a God, then He has betrayed you, don't you think so?"

3. In times like these, Satan will attempt to take away your faith, get you to believe that God does not exist. If he does not succeed, he will attempt to make you believe that God hates you. If not, he will scrutinize  your past and show you that it is pay back time for God - God is punishing you for your past sins. Never believe any of these lies.

Joseph definitely wanted to get out of the dungeon. If Pharaoh could hear of Joseph  and his plight, perhaps he could get out of prison; Pharaoh was the one who could authorize his release but a slave as he was, he wasn't the kind of fellow Pharaoh would want to know anything about - he had more important things to think about than a slave. Joseph saw the opportunity to  get his name in the books of Pharaoh when he interpreted the dream of his chief butler- the one who put Pharaoh's cup into his hands and served him wine. Joseph said to him:

But think of me when it shall be well with you and show kindness, I beg of you, to me, and mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.

For truly I was carried away from the land of the Hebrews by unlawful force, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me into the dungeon.  Gen 40:14-15

The chief butler was the only human connection Joseph had with the king. In spite of Joseph's request, he forgot about Joseph. For two years, Joseph heard nothing from him.

4. When we find ourselves in certain situations, we often know people who can easily help us out or even others who can just mention our names to someone of some influence who can help us, yet they don't. At this stage, it is important to realize that no man can help you on his own, and that God is directly involved in what you are going  through; this is where you get to know that His plan is working, He doesn't want anyone to interfere with His plan for you. Here is what the bible says:

It is better to depend on the LORD than to trust mortals. It is better to depend on the LORD than to trust influential people.  -  Psalm 118:8-9 (God's Word)

It took God to make a move before Joseph was finally remembered. It was time for God to execute His plan.

He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold as a servant.

His feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in chains of iron and his soul entered into the iron,

Until his word [to his cruel brothers] came true, until the word of the Lord tried and tested him.

The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the peoples, and let him go free.

 He made Joseph lord of his house and ruler of all his substance,

To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.

 Psalm 105:17-22

What Joseph did not know was that he was a part of God's master plan - a plan to save humanity from an approaching decimating disaster. In this plan of God, he needed His man to be in charge and implement the plan, but the political and economic system in Canaan did not have the capacity to handle a 7-year food reserve for the whole world. Joseph then ends up in Egypt which was just the right place God needed for this plan.  God in His infinite wisdom, did not take Joseph to Egypt as a statesman, and a potential Prime Minister; there is no doubt the amount of opposition he would have received and the number of people who would have wanted to kill him. Egypt was the highest civilization at the time. They had enough capacity to build warehouses for this purpose. Joseph only got to know the plan when everything finally unfolded.

5. When we are going through difficult times, it is very difficult to understand what is going on. When you find yourself in such a situation, you don't need to worry. When a pen is in the hand of its writer, it is not for the pen to understand what it is writing, only the writer understands what he is writing. We (Christians) are like individual keys on God's   keyboard (harmonious/computer), we may not understand why he presses us at certain times but one thing is sure: He is making beautiful melody and we are just privileged enough to be one of the keys God is using to unleash His glory. If you are a key on God's computer keyboard, it is no different; you are just one of the keys God is using to type another story of victory.

At God's appointed time, Joseph's status and position changed in the twinkle of an eye. One morning, he wakes up a prisoner, and then goes to bed a prime minister the evening of the same day. This is how God surprised Joseph and this is how He will surprise anyone who is faithfully going through tough times. He did not just rule, he ruled over the greatest civilization of his generation. This is how David made reference to the story:

You have delivered Me from the strivings of the people; You have made Me the head of the nations; a people whom I have not known shall serve Me. -Psalm 18:43 (MKJV)

Through all these, God never left Joseph. He may have prayed every prayer he knew of and may also have led the most righteous life. God was so silent certain times that he was likely to ask himself if God really cared. God had no choice but to watch from the sidelines when we was being taken to prison. However,  He provided the necessary support to keep Joseph in the contest and help him win. For example, everywhere he went;  whether a slave or a prisoner, he was the head and not the tail. There was something about him that made everything he touched prosper.

Here are a few highlights that I also picked from Joseph's life that kept him in God's plan;

1. He stayed faithful - though Joseph had been treated unjustly by his own brothers and had found himself in a strange land, that did not stop him from remaining faithful to his God.

2. He maintained a positive spirit  -  the Lord may have given him all the favor he needed, but he definitely did not go about carrying a gloomy face and the documents of his betrayal by his brothers, whining to everyone he saw. I am very certain that in spite of all that happened to him, he carried a positive spirit, relying on the promise of God to him. He must have had a firm hope that though he did not understand what God was doing, what God had said about his life in the dreams he had were surely going to happen, only he didn't know how.

3. He was diligent - Joseph was a diligent servant, first, to the Lord and then to his master - Potiphar. Genesis 39:2-6 gives an account of how God was with Joseph and made everything he did prosper. In verse 6, we learn that his master left everything in his house in the care (responsibility) of Joseph. Only a diligent servant can attract such a responsibility. Your present circumstances do not excuse you from being diligent in everything you do, whether great or small.

4. He forgave - many of us, if we were in Joseph's shoes would have taught our brothers a real lesson of a lifetime- they would probably have been in prison for twice the number of years we spent there (with a very hard labor).

Back in primary school, when I was a class prefect, we (me and my colleague prefect) were mandated to control the class so they wouldn't make noise, in the absence of the teacher. Usually the class would go beyond control (I was the smallest person in the class and my other colleague was a girl),we knew nothing about leadership then, so we would write down the names of troublemakers and submit to the teacher for them to be punished. One popular abbreviation in the list was D.P. - Double Punishment. Unofficially, this was for anyone who may have beaten me the previous days or may have wronged me somehow; this was my chance to pay them back and I didn't joke with it. Joseph however did not see it this way; he forgave his brothers, knowing that God used their hatred and subsequent diabolic action as a fuel to move His plans for him to the next level.

I believe you have learnt something from Joseph's life that God knows our struggles and He is concerned about whatever we go through. In the end, apart from becoming the Prime Minister on a strange land, Joseph was given the revered and coveted position of the First born. He had the double portion of his father's inheritance; the land of Canaan was  divided into thirteen equal portions - he had two. (the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh).

Gen 48:22 

And I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

If God has selected you to do anything great, then prepare for your test, get ready to go through the refinery where God will turn you into a master craft.