Jessica Albritton, NextGen Minister LHBC

Genesis 37:23-28; 41:56-57
23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our [own] flesh.” His brothers agreed. 28 When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. 56 When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. 57 And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

We all tease in my family that my youngest brother, Jonathan, is the favorite child. Out of all the kids he is the most likely to get away with stuff the older kids would never dream of getting away with. One Christmas, I traveled home for the holiday and he was asked to turn a light off in the dining room. Instead of using the light switch on the wall he jumped in a chair, climbed on top of the table, and pulled the string on the light fixture to cut it off. We all looked up confused and ready for my mom to flip her lid. But instead of fussing at him for climbing on the table she laughed and exclaimed, “Well that’s one way to do it…” We were all shocked! Never in a million years would we get away with something like that. My sister just sighed and said, “Well if there was any question before we all have the answer now… he 100% is the favorite.” Now of course my parents don’t have favorites, we all know that, but it does give us a good laugh. 

In Genesis chapter 37 we see the story of Jacob and his 12 sons. Jacob, unlike my parents, did have a favorite child however and everyone knew it. In verse 3 it says Jacob loved Joseph more than any other son and even gave him a special gift because of it. Now as you can only imagine Joseph’s brothers were not happy about it. They were so jealous of Joseph they wanted to get rid of him, some even plotted to kill him. Thankfully the oldest brother was able to convince the rest not to kill Joseph; instead, they stripped him of his colorful coat, threw him into a pit, and when they saw some travelers heading to Egypt, they decided to sell him. You would think that being sold and taken away from all your home, family, and friends would be the worst thing to happen to a person but unfortunately that’s not all of the hardship Joseph had to endure. Later on in Egypt he was also lied on, and even thrown in prison. 

Joseph had a pretty rough life, I would be willing to bet Joseph was angry, sad, and probably a little scared. Joseph probably asked God “why” on several occasions. Why he was sold, why he was lied on, why no one would believe him, why he was thrown in prison for something he didn’t do. But God didn’t tell Joseph why. Joseph continued to trust God through all of it knowing that God loved him and had a plan for his life, even when Joseph couldn’t see that plan. 

Later on we see where in jail Joseph helped the Pharaoh by interpreting his dreams. Because Joseph was able to interoperate the dreams, he was taken out of jail and given a very important job. Joseph ended up being put in a high position where he helped save the whole nation from a famine by providing the whole nation food!

In life, just like Joseph, we may face situations that make us angry, sad, scared, or even just confused. You may be in a situation right now that you don’t understand or can’t make sense of. Remember in those times we can always trust God is with us and that He loves us and that He cares for us. Rest in the fact that God has a plan for your life even when you don’t know what tomorrow holds. We may not know what the plan for our life is but we can trust in the God that holds our future.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness. Lord, I know that you are trustworthy and that I can put my hope in you even when I am going through tough seasons of life. Help me to fix my eyes on you and walk by faith when I can’t make sense of all that’s going on around me. In Jesus name, amen!

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.