One of my favorite stories from Genesis is the story of Joseph. His story starts in Chapter 37 and goes all the way until the end of Genesis, Chapter 50. Here are some things that God revealed to me through Joseph's story
1. Jealousy ends in death (physical and spiritual). It is so powerful that family members can even kill or harm each other (Ch. 37: 11and 18-28). This is not the first time in the bible that brothers have plotted to kill one another. The story of Cain and Abel, early on in Genesis, was the first account of murder and the reason was because of jealousy (Ch. 4).
2. God is forever faithful. The Lord was always with him, blessed him, and made everything he did successful (Ch. 39: 2-6 and Ch. 39: 21-23). Even though Joseph was put in many tough situations, God allowed him to find favor with the people around him. God didn't forget about Joseph at all.
3. Lust always ends with harm. Potiphar's wife lusted after Joseph and tried to sleep with him, but when he refused she accused him of attempted rape. Joseph was thrown into prison as a result of her lust (Ch. 39: 7-19). There will be other accounts from the bible that shows how lust ends up in harm to self or others.
4. God gifted Joseph with the ability to interpret dreams, but Joseph never took any of the glory. He was humble and knew that his gift and everything else belonged to God (Ch. 40: 8 and Ch. 41:16).
5. Joseph had compassion for his brothers even though they harmed him. He comforted them during their moments of grief, shame, and regret. He also understood that justice was not his to seek. (Ch. 42: 24-25, Ch. 45: 5, and Ch. 50: 19).
6. God is omniscient. God is all-knowing and does nothing in vain. He always has a purpose far greater than we will ever understand. Joseph was wise because he knew that. He understood that he went through suffering because God had a greater purpose for him. God called him to Egypt first so that he would be able to help during the famine and preserve many lives (Ch. 45: 5, 7-8 and Ch. 50: 20).
7. God restores. When God reunited Israel and Joseph, he physically restored them and spiritually restored their joy. I loved reading about when Israel realized that Joseph was still alive and how they embraced each other when they saw each other again. Israel was so thankful towards God and felt that he could pass away with peace now (Ch. 45: 27, Ch. 46: 29-30, and Ch. 48: 11). There's so much tears for the heartache they went through and for the overwhelming joy of their reunion.
I seriously have so much respect and admiration towards Joseph. I'm also in awe about how everything was orchestrated by our God. Everything had a purpose and only magnified God and His characteristics even more.
