O my soul,
Was Joseph’s life as God had intended?
He was hated by his brothers to the extent that they wanted to murder him. Narrowly escaping death at their hands he was sold into slavery at the age of seventeen and then thrown into prison in Egypt for a crime he didn’t commit, where he was incarcerated for more than ten years.
Is this what God had intended for him? Why had this all happened? Is this what the Lord’s perfect plans and purposes look like for those he loves?
By no means! We simply must account for human folly and foolishness. Joseph’s own life and his whole family were dominated by these.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
― Genesis 37:3-4
Jacob, now called Israel, fathered Joseph in his old age and doted upon him, unwisely favouring him above his brothers whose subsequent envy grew to become hatred.
And Joseph demonstrated that he was his father’s son through his own lack of wisdom.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
― Genesis 37:2
At seventeen shouldn’t he have known better how to get on with his brothers than telling tales about them to their own father?
Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
― Genesis 37:5-8
Joseph’s dream was from the Lord and revealed a glorious future. We’ll come to that. But this revelation caused his brothers to hate him even more. They hated him even more because he was unwise enough to tell them of that prophecy which did indeed come to pass, eventually. Nevertheless, sharing it with his brothers as he did was both foolish and inflammatory. He was his father’s son.
And this was a mistake he repeated.
Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
― Genesis 37:9
Perhaps such things are better kept to one’s self.
Later when he arrived in Egypt as a slave he was equally naive. Let’s first notice how this foreign slave without credentials or experience became the trusted overseer of the household of Potiphar, the captain of the guard of the Pharaoh of Egypt.
The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.
― Genesis 39:2-3
Wasn’t this blessing from the Lord all entirely undeserved? Grace and favour were raining down from heaven on this naive young man.
And then he was accused by Potiphar’s wife of attempted rape. But notice again the pattern here. Just as Joseph had been unwise to share that dream with his brothers, so also he was unwise to be in the house alone with Potiphar’s wife.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused …
And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.
― Genesis 39:6-8, 10
And so it continued day after day. His woeful encounter with Potiphar’s wife was not an isolated incident.
As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.
― Genesis 39:19-20
Joseph again got what he deserved for his own foolishness, didn’t he? But what do we find, again?
But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
― Genesis 39:21
The undeserved steadfast love of the Lord continued to rain down upon him.
And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.
― Genesis 39:23
Eventually⸺and never was a word so appropriate as here in Joseph’s life⸺eventually, Joseph came before Pharaoh himself, in a way which was indeed by the hand of the Lord, interpreted his dream, and was freed to a great and glorious future.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
― Genesis 41:39-41
How ironic. Through those long years of incarceration God had transformed that foolish youth into a man so discerning and wise. What a miracle of grace. Praise the Lord!
O my soul, you know the rest. Famine in Canaan caused Jacob to send his sons to Egypt to buy food. After some scheming by Joseph which we could see as teaching his brothers a lesson (and who could blame him for that?) there was an emotional reconciliation. And then what?
Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.
― Genesis 47:27
What is this story all about then? The Lord’s incredible rescue of Joseph’s family from famine in their own land? Yes, certainly it is that. A family reconciliation after separation caused by hatred and betrayal? Yes, that too. Rescue and restoration of a naive young man from the consequences of his own foolishness? Indeed.
But ultimately isn’t this in fact all about the Lord’s glorious Plan B for undeserving sinners? A Plan B so good and full of grace it seems to improve upon that hypothetical Plan A which never transpired. This Plan B which was wrought out of folly and foolishness and disappointment and shame.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
― Romans 8:28
So much had gone wrong, but none of this pain and heartbreak and suffering was intended by the Lord nor attributable to him.
And so it is with us. He is the great rescuer, fully able to pick up the pieces of ruined lives and work all things together for good. His plans and purposes are not thwarted by our mistakes nor by our foolishness. Praise the Lord! And throughout Joseph’s story never once did God’s grace and steadfast love and faithfulness reach its limit. His grace is sufficient. Yes, the rescue took its time, but wasn’t it so well worth the wait?
Rejoice, O my soul, in the Lord’s glorious Plan B for your own ruined life! 🙏