JOSEPH – BROKEN CHILD TO EXALTED RULER
“When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.”
~ Oswald Chambers
The Favored Son
Can you imagine being the favored son of your wealthy father and mother? You’re wearing all the best clothing, eating all the best food, going to the best schools, learning how the family business runs, and generally treated like the heir successor to everything your family owns. Your father prances you around to everyone and dotes on you endlessly. Meanwhile your older brothers work the fields and factories, and do all of the major physical labor. They are told to watch over you and protect you on those few occasions when you do visit your family’s holdings.
Now, imagine God gives you a dream on your 17th birthday. He shows you that your entire family will be working for you; including your mother and father. Being a child and excited about the future God has shown you, and somewhat entitled, you proceed to shout this dream to your entire family. It doesn’t go over well with your parents, and your brothers are furious. They’re already mad at you for all the special treatment you get. Not to mention the fact that you ratted them out to your father when they were trying to blow off some steam. None of them believes you, and just the thought that they would be working for their younger, spoiled brother infuriates them even more.
Family Betrayal
In their anger, they take you by force and lock you in an abandoned building owned by the family. They leave you water for a couple of days and leave. When they return, several large men proceed to blindfold you and inject you with something that knocks you out. When you awaken you are in a shipping container with several dozen other men who are as confused as you are. They come from all walks of life; rich, poor, in-between. White, Black, Asian, Latino, and Indian are all represented.
I’m sure you know the rest of the story. If not read Genesis chapters 37-48. Joseph is sold to Potiphar who makes him head of his house. Potiphar’s wife makes advances at Joseph and he declines them and runs away from her. Potiphar believes the false account of his wife and has joseph imprisoned where he spends several years. While there, he correctly interrupts the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. It’s two years before Pharaoh summons him.
Anger to Humility
Can you imagine the anger and bitterness that must have been fighting for hold of Joseph’s heart? The grief of being betrayal by your own family and losing everything you have ever known. Never to see your beloved parents ever again. Then to be lied about and unjustly punished and imprisoned. Trust me, Joseph was a broken man and that is exactly what God wanted. Those broken vessels have learned that they have nothing left but God and have placed all their faith and hope in Him. He had nothing left except to spend the rest of his life in prison with God.
But God! All the trials and suffering Joseph faced were to build a character in Him that was like that of God Himself. Loving, compassionate, and merciful. God knew what was coming and He knew Joseph would be the man to save Israel. First, God needed to humble and break Joseph’s pride. Joseph needed to learn humility. Something he did not show to his family so long ago. And he needed to learn that it was God, and God alone, who was his provider and who was the true interpreter of dreams.
Humility to Promotion
Because of the trials Joseph endured, God brought him before Pharaoh to interpret the dreams that were haunting him. If he had not learned humility and service to others in his time as a slave and prisoner, could never have happened. Because Joseph matured he was able to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dream, giving God the glory. He also knew what steps needed to be taken to save Egypt from the coming famine. In turn, Pharaoh set him as head of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. He gave him the task of implementing the plan he outlined to save Egypt.
Suddenly, Joseph was a 13-year overnight success. From a prideful, spoiled, rich 17-year-old kid, to slave and prisoner, to Ruler of all Egypt. Years of breaking and learning and intense character development suddenly paid off. All in one God-ordained meeting with the Pharaoh of Egypt. That’s how quickly it can happen when we submit to God and allow Him to break us and use that brokenness to build His character in us.
Joseph was rewarded with power, purpose, and a family of his own. In Genesis 41:42, Joseph even got his ‘coat’ back when Pharaoh dressed him in royal robes. He was given a new name; Zaphnathpaaneah – God speaks and He lives – one more fitting to Joseph’s experiences. Even the grief, bitterness, and sadness of his experiences were no more. Genesis 41:51-52, “And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Agent of Restoration
But God had more rewards and more testing for Joseph; nor was this the extent of God’s purpose for Him. Joseph is a type of Jesus in the Old Testament. He endured immense trials and tremendous suffering and developed a more God-like character for more than just saving Egypt. Joseph was to be a savior to all of Israel. That was God’s ultimate purpose for Joseph. He needed that bratty seventeen-year-old boy to grow up and learn to be a servant to others. He needed to be a proper leader to Egypt and his family.
The rest of the story plays out in Genesis chapters 42-48. Joseph’s brothers arrive to buy grain and he sees them. All the grief, the betrayal, the bitterness come flowing back, and Joseph is knocked off balance. The emotions of seeing those who betrayed you, learning your father is still alive, the desire to see him, the desire for revenge. All must have been so overwhelming. And we see in Genesis 42:24 that it was very overwhelming to Joseph, “And he turned himself about from them, and wept;” And again in Genesis 43:30 when he sees Benjamin
Passing the Tests
Joseph wasn’t just testing his brothers, God was also testing Joseph to see if he had learned his lesson. Earlier when he first confronted his brothers he remembers the dreams God gave him (Genesis 42:9). Then later in Genesis 44 he sets his final test for those who betrayed him. Benjamin is accused of stealing from Joseph and the brothers all come to Benjamin’s defense. Judah even offers himself in exchange for Benjamin.
Genesis 45 is the account of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. He tells them that he forgives them for what they did to him and to not blame themselves. He assures them that God meant it for the good of him and their family. Genesis 45:5-8, “Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Conclusion
What you have endured, are enduring, and will endure in the future is to build your character. It’s to fulfill the call God has on your life. Ultimately, as with Joseph, the trials are to help you help others. Joseph saved Egypt, saved Israel, and became Pharaoh’s chief counselor ‘A father to Pharaoh’. Joseph’s trials were orchestrated by God. All to make him strong enough and mature enough to bring salvation and prosperity to the people of Israel. God had chosen to break his vessel so that he might become an Agent of Restoration.
That, my friend, is the call on your life. God chose to allow your vessel to break so that He might restore you as better than before. After you have been restored, restore others (Luke 22:32). You broke so that you might be an Agent of Restoration. You’re in good hands, just as Joseph, Jesus, and so many others have been.