Hello friends and fellow stemians, as we prepare for tomorrow's service to be blessed by God in our various worship centers, I want to share a brief message with us on the life of Joseph how he rose from the pit to the palace.
A lot of have read about the life of Joseph how he finished well despite the challenges from his family members when he tried sharing his dreams to them. He had been in a ‘pit’
Genesis 37:24-26 King James Version (KJV)
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
and in ‘prison’
Genesis 39:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison(39:20),
but through it all he never compromised the faith neither did he give heed to the temptation from Potiphar's wife, and later he ended up in a ‘palace’,
Genesis 41:39-41
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt
Like so many people in the Bible (Jesus, John the Baptist, Ezekiel, and the priests and Levites serving in the temple – see Numbers 4) Joseph started his life’s work at the age of thirty as we see in Genesis 41:46. Up to that time Joseph had been in training. Now we saw that after the training he was put ‘in charge of the whole land of Egypt’ (Genesis 41 v.41).
God had seen Joseph’s heart in the midst of all his trouble. For the thirteen years between the ages of seventeen and thirty Joseph must have wondered what God was doing. He had been through so much rejection, suffering, injustice, imprisonment, disappointment and other trials. But through it all God was preparing him to be put in charge of ‘the whole land of Egypt’.
God knew he could be trusted because his heart was right. He had stayed close to the Lord through all the trials and this is what matters – not whether you are in a period of battle OR a period of blessing, but whether you are staying close to the Lord and communicating with him from your heart.
Joseph named his two children Manasseh (which means ‘God has made me forget all my trouble’,Genesis 41 v.51) and Ephraim (which means ‘God has made me fruitful’ ,Genesis 41 v.52). The common thread in these two names is the four-word phrase ‘God has made me’. In both the times of suffering (Manasseh) and the times of success (Ephraim), Joseph acknowledges that it is God who is in control.
Don’t let your heart be bitter in times of suffering NOR boastful in times of success but rather, recognize that God is sovereign over your life and your situation.
In contrast to Joseph, his brothers had had to live with their deception and guilt (Genesis 42:21 onward): ‘Now we’re paying for what we did to our brother… and now we’re the ones in trouble’ (MSG). ‘Their hearts sank’ (Genesis 42 v.28), but with their lips they said, ‘we are honest men’ (genesis 42 v.31).
In all this Joseph’s original dreams were being fulfilled. In spite of all he had been through, he kept trusting God and being faithful to him. It started out badly but he finished well.
Never let go of your God-given dreams. Even if you start off in a ‘pit’ or a ‘prison’, like Joseph, you may end up in a ‘palace’. As Joyce Meyer writes,
‘No matter where you started, you can have a great finish… Even if you are in a pit today, God can still raise you up and do great things in you and through you!’