Because Of A Dream

Introduction

“Dad, they did it again! When you told them to go look after the sheep they went to play in the field instead.” Have you ever had that little sibling who told you about everything? Well, I have and it’s annoying. I am going to talk about an irritating little brother who God used to save his entire family. His name is Joseph, and his story takes place in Genesis.

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, also known as Israel, and his mother Rachel. His brothers were Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin. They lived in the land of Canaan; the land God promised their ancestor Abraham. Often, as a child his mouth got him into trouble, especially with his brothers. He would frequently tell them about dreams he had which they did not like because they would be his servants. He would also bring back bad reports about his brothers to their father. His father also favored Joseph and proof of this favor was the colorful coat his father gave him. This made life at home chaotic with his brothers. This sets the stage for my paper about Joseph. I will observe Joseph’s life and detail his struggles, victories, and a lesson I learned from his life.

Struggles

“Wow, how did I get into this pit? It is really dark in here. This would not have happened if I just kept my mouth shut. I did not have to tell my brothers about my dreams.” The first struggle Joseph had was being thrown into a pit by his brothers. The reason his brothers threw him into the pit was because he told them they were his servants in his dreams. To make matters worse, they sold him to traders who took him to Egypt where he was sold as a slave. This was a struggle in Joseph’s life because he was raised in a large family and now, he is alone in another country. Also, he once was free, now he is a slave.

“Man, I thought the pit was bad, but this one is worst! It is even darker, and it is cold. Wow! Jail sucks! All this because of a dream.” Joseph is in jail not because of something he did, but for what he was falsely accused of doing. Even though he was a good servant of Potiphar, his master, he ended up in jail. Being wrongly imprisoned must have been a low point in Joseph’s life because he did not do anything wrong.

“Wow! I am still in jail! Even though I am the chief prisoner in jail it sucks that I am still here. I told that cupbearer to remember me, but I don’t think he did.” And Joseph was right, he did not remember, so Joseph was stuck in jail. This is another struggle in Joseph’s life; he was forgotten by the cupbearer after he interpreted his dream. He told him to remember him when he is restored to his position. I can imagine how sad he was being forgotten; the cupbearer was living his life while Joseph was rotting away in prison.

Victories

“Hey Caleb! My life was not all bad.” This is correct. Even though Joseph had a lot of setbacks he also had a lot of victories. For example, he did eventually get out of jail because his friend the cupbearer finally remembered him. Pharoah had a dream that needed to be interpreted, and Joseph was the one who told Pharoah the meaning of the dream. Joseph told Pharoah Egypt would have seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. As a result, Joseph was named second to Pharoah in the land of Egypt.

God took him from a pit, to slavery, to head of the servants, to jail, to head of the prisoners, then to head of Egypt. His victories don’t stop there. The famine that he predicted affected not only Egypt, but the surrounding areas including Canaan where is family lived. Due to Egypt having stored grain, people from around the region had to go to Egypt to get food. Coincidently, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt. After a series of events Joseph revealed himself to them. Eventually his whole family came to Egypt. His greatest victory was saving his family from famine. As Joseph said to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today (ESV, Genesis 50:20)”

Lessons

Finally, there are two lessons I have learned from Joseph’s life. First do right even in bad situations. Even though Joseph experienced bad situations he did right and followed God’s plan. We call this integrity. Second, God can turn a bad situation into a good situation. Even when people do evil to you God can turn it into good. Like Paul said, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good… (ESV, Romans 8:28).”

Conclusion

In conclusion, Joseph had many struggles and many victories, but in the end, God allow him to save his family – because of a dream!