I've been really enjoying studying and teaching the life of Joseph recently. It is exactly the teaching I needed as I deal with the setbacks and disappointments of lockdown. I've already written about Joseph in my article 'Leadership in Lockdown' here. As we stand back and look at Joseph with a wide angle lens what are the big themes of his life? Here are 10 takeaways.
1. God keeps his promises.
We see in Genesis 37 that God gives him two dreams. In Genesis 41 and 42 these dreams come true. We see this theme in the OT – God makes a promise and then he fulfils it. Sometimes he takes 100’s of years, sometimes he works in seconds, but his promises are always fulfilled. God works through covenant – he shows himself again and again as a faithful God.
2. God is doing a lot more than we think.
When we look at young Joseph, he was talented but he seemed arrogant. Then he was a slave and then a prisoner - his life seemed to be a disaster. Yet at each twist and turn God was testing him, refining him and preparing him for greatness. God was interested in how Joseph was as a slave, how he responded to menial work, how he responded to false allegations, how he treated his fellow prisoners.
God was working all the time, maybe Joseph couldn’t see it but God was at work.
3. Great leaders always lead with a limp.
If I asked you to list your three best leaders who would they be? Many of the best leaders have been through great suffering. One of my inspirational leaders lost his wife when he was 35 and brought up two young girls by himself. He ministered in one of the most difficult housing schemes in Edinburgh for 23 years before urban evangelism was trendy. Great leadership is often coupled with great brokenness and tragedy. Humility makes us trust in a great God, it helps us to see that any talent we have is a gift and it makes us prayerful.
4. God’s best jewels are always forged in the fire of affliction.
Affliction can lead to bitterness and cynicism but in Joseph’s case it led to selflessness and God centeredness. Robert Murray McCheyne said that 'the sweetest flowers sometimes need to be broken before they emit a beautiful smell'. There is a Biblical principle that when we are weak, then we are strong. When Joseph stood before Pharaoh he had nothing and he was nothing but just at that moment he was filled with the spirit.
O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that
all things are shadows, but thou art substance,
all things are quicksand's, but thou art mountain,
all things are shifting, but thou art anchor,
all things are ignorance, but thou art wisdom
If my life is to be a crucible amid burning heat, so be it,
but do thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore
that nothing be lost.
Purification, The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth
Joseph became a great leader through learning how to serve. Great leaders are ultimately servants. They hold power lightly because they recognise that power and positions are gifts. Servant leadership empowers, it cares and it embraces responsibility.
6. Don’t waste your suffering – Ephraim and Manasseh
Joseph could have made his life story into a huge story of grievance, but he didn’t. We see this in the names of his two sons: Ephraim – God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction and Manasseh – God has made me forget all my affliction. After 13 years of suffering Joseph says it is all forgotten – it was all part of Gods purpose for my life.
When Josephs brothers appeared before him it had taken God 22 years so fulfil his dream. Does God do the impossible? Yes. But often God takes years, decades and centuries to work out his purposes. That way God gets all the glory.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
8. Never underestimate what grace can do
God works in an evil and dysfunctional family. We read in 42 v 28 ‘What is this that God has done to us?’ It took Joseph ‘speaking roughly’ to them to awaken their consciousness and bring them back to God.
We see in chapter 45 v 14, 15 a beautiful picture of redemption and reconciliation.
22 years on the brothers embrace and weep. All the lies, the deceit, the bitterness are over. God's redemptive love wins. ‘You planned evil against me: God planned it for good to
bring about the present result – the survival of many people.’
Every page in the life of Joseph is pointing us to the greater Joseph. The brothers thought that Joseph had died and he almost did. He lost everything to bring life to a hungry world. Joseph is pointing us to Jesus who gives hope in despair, light in darkness and truth in confusion. Joseph points us to the true bread of life.
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