WHEN GOD SAYS YES!

A look at the life of Joseph

By: Peter Qeko Jere

The Old Testament is unique and very special in biblical history because it has situations where God almighty dealt with normal human beings who once lived on this planet. One such account is the history and life of Joseph in the book of Genesis.

To begin with, in Chapter 37, we have an account of a young man Joseph so much loved by his father Jacob. His father demonstrated and displayed his affections and fatherly love by giving him the coat of many colours (Gen 37:3). While his father loved him, his eleven brothers hated and despised him (Gen 37:4). In addition to the coat of many colours his father gave him, Genesis 37:5-11 says that his brothers hated him the more because of the two dreams he had as follows;

In the first dreamt Joseph was reaping in the field and his eleven brothers’ sheaves gathered around and bowed down to his. In the second dream, he saw the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowing down to him. Now because of these dreams, the hatred grew to the point of death. His brothers were much more dangerous together because they as a team, planned and strategised to kill him. As he was coming to see them near Dothan one day, they plotted to kill him and they said, “ Here comes the dreamer…come now lets kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him then we will see what comes of his dreams (Gen 37:19)”. After further consultations amongst themselves, they however resolved to sell him to the Ishmaelites who were passing by on their way to Egypt. They managed to sell him at the price of twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt where they in turn sold him to Potiphar who was the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.

This time Joseph was separated from his father and all kinsmen and the bible says that God extended his favour upon him as he blessed every place and everything he did. Because of him, God blessed Potiphar’s house and the bible says that God blessed and multiplied everything in the house. Also as he was later innocently put in prison due to Portipher’s wife wicked schemes (Gen 39:11-19), the bible says that even in there, the Lord granted him favour and kindness and was made in charge of all prisoners. While in Prison, he interpreted the Baker and the Cupbearer’s dreams.

As if this was not enough, Pharaoh had a very complicated dream, which baffled the mind of men, and no-one could interpret it. However Joseph was available and managed to interpret this huge dream where he told Pharaoh that the dream meant that there was to be seven years of plenty food and seven years of terrible famine in the entire world. Due to this, Pharaoh decided to the make Joseph the next in command, Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security in the entire land of Egypt. Regarding this Pharaoh said, “ I hereby put you (Joseph) in charge of the whole land of Egypt (Gen 41:41. As minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Joseph stored up huge quantities of grains like the sand of the sea during the first seven years of plenty. It was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure (Gen 41:49).

After the seven years of plenty, there came the seven years of terrible famine that affected the whole world and Joseph’s stored grain was their only lifeline. This famine didn’t spare the Jacob’s family in Canaan. He ordered his children to go down to Egypt to buy some grain for their survivor. Jacob and his children had no idea that Joseph whom they sold twenty-two years ago was the one now in charge of this food security in Egypt. This was Joseph whom if anything, his brothers hated, despised and wished dead. This was Joseph whom God blessed to the point of becoming the Prime Minster and Minster of Agriculture and Food Security in Egypt something, which his brothers never thought of during that consultation before they sold him to the Ishmaelites.

When his brothers arrived in Egypt, Joseph recognized them and became their savour. He provided food for them and never revenged their brutality. During this time, Joseph’s two dreams came to pass because all of them bowed down to him. They had no option this time because they were meeting the highest man of authority in Egypt though they had no idea that this man was their very brother whom they sold twenty-two years ago when he was seventeen years old. Even his father Jacob when he later a companied his children to Egypt as demanded by Joseph, they all bowed to him fulfilling the dream that he had of the Sun, Moon and eleven stars. Thus we need to note the following:

Firstly is that when God says Yes, it remains Yes and no devil in hell can change it. The world may try to block and mess you up to the point of frustrating all your hope but when God says yes, it remains yes and infact people’s actions against you becomes the very magical formula for your exaltation. The more people plan and strategize to bring you down the more they are helping you to be easily lifted up. We need to go through pain, confusion because this is biblical. Even Jesus Christ went through such hard time, which gave birth to joy and victory at the end.

Secondly, is that what Joseph did, to welcome his brothers and give them food, demonstrates a huge amount of forgiveness. We do not know how we could have handled this situation if we were in Joseph’s shoes. Majority of us could make them pay for having done such a wicked thing to us. However it is amazing to note that Joseph forgave them and became their very life- line. Joseph’s action is the very a model which we need to emulate. We simply need to forgive no matter how hard and difficult our situation may be because we have no rights whatever not to forgive

Finally, we need to demonstrate mercy and kindness to all people because we do not know what the Lord has in stored for them in the near future. Since we have no idea of what the Lord has in stored for those near and around us, we therefore need to live in peace and love with all people today for the sake of tomorrow. Those we despise, hate, pull down and plan to destroy today shall be the very people whom the Lord shall lift up high some day hence we need to watch out our actions today. Lets learn from the life style and the sufferings that Joseph went through and how at the same time the Lord lifted him so much high.