Imagine living in a family that was so “dysfunctional” that all your brothers hated you.  Joseph grew up facing hardships right at home.

   Sometimes we wonder why God puts us in difficult circumstances.  Why are we going through this?  Why me?  Never was there a person who could have asked that more of God in his lifetime than Joseph.

   As he grew up I’m sure Joseph noticed that he had a very special place in his father, Jacob’s, heart.  Jacob doted on him and his lovely mother Rachel probably called him her precious son.  The rest of his family treated him as a worm fit only to be crushed.  As the eleventh child Joseph would only have been given a small portion of his father’s property, if any.  His inheritance would be small; he would probably have to work for his brothers until he could support himself.  But daily Jacob was going against tradition.  He makes a fancy colorful coat for Joseph, a gift usually reserved for the first born son.  The brothers grow furious; this little Joseph was their father favorite and things just weren’t fair.

   It is obvious from scripture that Joseph feared and served God, even in his youth.  He would see his brothers’ sins and report them to Jacob, never letting evil go unpunished.  This drove his brothers to hatred of him.  Not only was he the favorite but he was a tattle-tail as well, a little goody-goody.

   Joseph begins having dreams; Dreams in which his brothers and his family bow down to him and worship him.  Now this is what confuses me.  If I’d have been Joseph I’d have kept this to myself and not tell my brothers who already hate me…  Of course all this just infuriates the brothers and their resentment of Joseph is so bad that they cannot even speak civilly to Joseph.

   One day when the brothers are keeping and feeding their sheep near Shechem Jacob sends Joseph to go and check on them and bring news back from them.  Joseph, being the dutiful and faithful son, sets off on the task.

   As his brothers saw him riding towards their camp they became furious.  “Here comes that dreamer!” they grumbled.  Their hatred of Joseph was so great at this point that just seeing him coming to their camp created so much anger towards him that their already heated tempers flared up to the boiling point.  They plotted on how to kill him.  “Let’s kill him and throw him in this pit!” One said.  But Reuben, the eldest, stood up and urged them all to consider what it was that they were planning.  “Let us not kill him, only throw him into the pit alive and then consider what to do.  If we kill him his blood will be on our heads!”

   When Joseph rode into camp just imagine his terror as his brothers tackled him, tore his coat off of him and threw him down into a pit.  He was probably scared for his life.  The Bible tells us that he pleaded with his brothers for hours to let him go, not to do this evil thing.  Reuben later laments that he and his brothers ignored Joseph and did not heed his cries.

   While Reuben is later asleep or off away with the sheep the rest of the brothers see a caravan of merchants headed towards Egypt.  Their road will take them right next to the brothers’ camp.  They plot together about selling Joseph to the merchants.  By doing this, they figure, they will not be sinning and killing Joseph outright, but they will still be rid of him and his crazy dreams.  If they get rid of him, their life will be just perfect.  As they haul Joseph up out of the pit Joseph’s already miserable day goes from bad to worse.  His own brothers sell him for 20 pieces of silver, and despite his pleas they turn him over to the slave masters and watch as he is drug away towards a foreign land and uncertain fate.

   Once the caravan of merchants reaches the land of Egypt Joseph is put up for sale as a manservant.  Away from all he knows, his father and mother and family, Joseph is bought by a wealthy Egyptian, Potiphar, and taken to his new home as a slave.  If most of us were put in this situation I don’t think we would have handled it as well as Joseph did.  He didn’t try to run away, or complain and insist that he be set free.  No, what Joseph did next sets him apart from every other person who faces adversity and hardships.  He faithfully did his duties, obeyed his master, the person of authority in his life.  And he did his best in every job or duty.  He didn’t have to be the best he was a slave for crying out loud!  But that’s exactly what he did.  He served Potiphar as if every job was to be done for the Lord, not a mere man.  Potiphar was impressed and noticed Joseph’s diligence.  He set Joseph up as the keeper and overseer of his entire household.  All his possessions were in Joseph’s hands, and Joseph was not treated as a lowly slave, but a trusted employee.

   Then, in the midst of a life that seemed to be turning out okay, Joseph faces another hardship.  Potiphar’s wife notices that Joseph is a very handsome young man.  She begins to lust after him and desire him until finally she goes to Joseph and says to his face that she wants him.  Joseph tells her that even though his master has trusted him with his entire house, there is one thing that is his and his alone.  It is her, his wife; Joseph must not touch her.  “I will not sin against my master, nor commit such a sin against God.”  Notice how he says that sleeping with her would not only be a crime against Potiphar, but a sin in the eyes of God!  Joseph did everything in his life to serve and honor God.  He had learned to love and follow God from his father and not only honored God out of duty to Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, but because he had a personal and living relationship with God himself.

   Potiphar’s wife is not impressed with his morals though and daily makes herself available by word and presence to Joseph.  She tries to entice him to her bed, but he continues to refuse her.  “I will not sin against God, nor betray my master’s trust.  You are not my wife, you are set apart for your husband alone.”

   One fateful day all that is sure and steady in Joseph’s life once again falls out from under him.  Potiphar’s wife in her attempt to get Joseph to sleep with her grabs him by his clothing and refuses to let him go.  Instead of remaining near temptation Joseph slips out of his clothes and runs away.  He flees from temptation.  Now she is angry with Joseph and goes to her husband to ruin him.  She claims Joseph tried to rape her, and holds up his clothes as proof.  Potiphar cannot but believe his own wife, and so sends Joseph to prison.

   For any one else, this would have been the last straw.  Nothing in Joseph’s life had EVER gone right.  He had been hated by his own brothers; they had almost killed him and then had sold him!  He had lived as a slave in a foreign country, and now was imprisoned for a crime he’d not even committed.  Indeed it appeared as if God had forsaken him, had treated him terribly for no reason at all.  Joseph could have cursed God at that moment and most everyone would not have blamed him.  But what did Joseph do?  He redeemed the time in the prison and through his helpfulness and uprightness caught the eye of the jailor.  Within a short time the jailor set Joseph up as a leader in the prison.  Joseph, no matter that he was imprisoned wrongly did his very best in the situation.

   God had blessed Joseph with a skill of being able to interpret dreams and as Joseph was in prison this talent came in very useful.  The Pharaoh’s butler and baker had both displeased him and he had had them thrown into prison.  Both men had dreams that they couldn’t explain and it troubled them.  Joseph, seeing their sadness asked if he could help them, and requested that they both tell him their dreams.  After hearing them Joseph interpreted the meaning of their dreams.  In three days Pharaoh was going to reinstate the butler and forgive him, but he would have the baker killed for whatever crime he had committed.  Before the butler left the prison Joseph begged him to tell Pharaoh about his imprisonment.  Joseph, though faithful in his position, still wished for his freedom, and probably thought that if he could only have an audience with Pharaoh, he might be set free, able to return to his family and home.

   The butler, happy in his good fortune at being back in the Pharaoh’s good graces, forgot about Joseph.  For two years he forgot about him.  But did Joseph give up?  No.  He continued to do his best where he was, and had faith in God to take care of him.

   Around two years after the butler had been taken back into Pharaoh’s household Pharaoh had several dreams, repeatedly several nights and not one of his “wise men” could interpret it to him.  It was then that the butler remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about his ability to interpret dreams.  Joseph was called for and Pharaoh told him his dreams.  Before Joseph gives Pharaoh the interpretation he tells Pharaoh that it is not from him that the interpretation comes, but from God.  Joseph never takes credit for the skill which God had given him, for all true skill is given by God.

   He goes on to interpret the dream and tells Pharaoh that they are going to be blessed with seven years of plenty.  Their crops will be the best they’ve ever had; their cattle will be fruitful and fat.  But after the seven years there will be a great and terrible drought and famine in all the lands and it will last for seven years.  Joseph recommends that Pharaoh find a man who is wise and give him the power to collect and store a great amount of food for the coming drought.  Not only for the country of Egypt, but for all the surrounding countries as well.

   Pharaoh was impressed by the wisdom he saw in Joseph.  “Can anyone be found like him?  The spirit of God is with this man.”  What a testament Joseph’s daily life was to the people around him.  Even the Pharaoh of one of the greatest pagan nations recognized that this man before him had more of God’s spirit than anyone else he had ever met.  And so Pharaoh sets Joseph up as a leader in Egypt, to prepare for the coming famine.  He would be second only to Pharaoh.  Joseph, the slave, the prisoner was now one of the greatest men in all the land.  He married an Egyptian woman during the seven years of plenty and had two children.  Finally, something seemed to be going right in Joseph’s life.

   When the years of plenty were over and the seven years of famine began Joseph’s family back home began to be worried about the drought suddenly upon them.  Their crops died off, their cattle began to starve from lack of grass.  Joseph’s brothers began to grow worried.  Jacob decided to send all his sons, but for Benjamin, to Egypt where he had heard they were selling grain.

   The climax of the story was about to happen.

   As the ten brothers came before Joseph to request permission to buy grain from Egypt Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him.  Here was a perfect opportunity Joseph must have recognized.  He was all-powerful now, he could control an army if he wished, and he could certainly have his brothers, who had treated him so badly, punished or even killed.  Joseph kept his identity secret and treated his brothers roughly as he questioned them.  He accused them of being spies and called them liars as they protested their innocence.  He had them all thrown into prison for three days and at the end he told them that they must all, except for Simeon who was to be held as a prisoner, take the grain they purchased home with them and return with their youngest brother, Benjamin.  Joseph longed to see his little brother, his only remaining link to his mother.

   On their way home the brothers feared whatever was happening to them.  “What is God doing to us?” they cried.  At home they retell the story to Jacob and tell him of the man of Egypt’s demand of them.  Jacob is horrified and appalled at this new twist in the life of his family.  Years ago, after Jacob had sent Joseph to check on his brothers, they had all returned home to tell him that they had found Joseph’s coat of many colors stained with blood.  Jacob believed Joseph to be dead and still mourned the loss of his most beloved son.  All he had left was Benjamin and now his other sons were telling him that they needed to take Benjamin away from him.  Jacob refused, even though it meant that they wouldn’t see Simeon again.

   Months later when all their food was almost gone once again, the brothers plead with Jacob to let them take Benjamin with them to Egypt, so that they can buy food and save their family from certain death.  Facing starvation Jacob finally relents and lets Benjamin go along.

   Once in Egypt the brothers appear before Joseph and he has them brought to his house for a meal.  He puzzles them all when he seats them according to age and serves Benjamin an extra portion of food.  Seeing Benjamin once again after so long is too much for Joseph and he leaves his brothers’ presence to weep.  He probably thought that he would never see his family again, especially his father and brother and having him here with him was overwhelming.  Joseph began to see how God had planned every detail of his life; that alone must have been overpowering.

   When the brothers, including Simeon whom Joseph had freed from prison, began their journey home Joseph set up a test.  He had his own silver cup placed in Benjamin’s grain sack, along with each of the brothers’ money in their own sack.  Once they were a little ways out of the city Joseph sent his steward after them, and finding the cup and money he brings them back to Joseph.  Testing the character of his brothers he tells them that whoever had the cup will be his servant, but the rest of them may go back home to their father.  Will his brothers forsake Benjamin to slavery as they had with him before?  Or has their character changed and will they stand up for and protect Benjamin?  Judah stands up, risks his own safety and begs Joseph to take him instead of Benjamin, as he is their father’s favorite and his loss will kill their father with grief.  At this Joseph loses control of himself and bursts into tears.  No longer are his brothers the selfish and hateful men they once were.  His beloved brother is in good hands, and his father is still alive!  He finally tells his brothers who he is and they panic, realizing that with one command he could have them all killed, and rightly so.  Joseph hugs them and forgives them for all they had ever done to him.  Then he shares the revelation he’s seen about why all this had happened to him over his life.

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, ‘I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?’ And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, ‘Come near to me, I pray you.’ And they came near. And he said, ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 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 the 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.’” – Genesis 45:3-8

   What an amazing fact that Joseph realizes and tells his brothers here.  All his life everything had seemed to go wrong, and now he realizes why everything had happened to him.  God had a miraculous plan for him all along, and everything had happened for a purpose.  Now he was in a position to save his family and their place in God’s covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.  Imagine how Joseph’s brothers must have felt hearing this!  What a revelation, it must have been a very powerful and amazing moment for them all.

   Joseph sends his family home to return with all their belongings and animals, and most importantly, his father Jacob.  Joseph set apart the land of Goshen, in Egypt, for his family and their families.  When Jacob hears the story of all that’s happened and that Joseph is still alive, he is overcome with emotion.  Before he dies, he is going to see his beloved son again and bless his children, passing on his covenant legacy.

   This has always been one of my favorite Bible stories and every time I read it I get something new out of it.  In the daily Bible study I’ve been doing for the past couple months I’ve just finished the week’s study on Joseph and the study book opened my eyes to a few details in the story.  One of which was the fact that when Joseph has his cup put into Benjamin’s sack it wasn’t to torment or pay his brothers back for their years of hatred towards him.  He was testing their character!  I’d never seen it in that way.

   Putting this study down on paper and out of my head has been a test in itself.  I wanted to share what I’ve learned about how differently Joseph handled adversity than the way I too often do.  When I’m faced with unfair and difficult circumstances I’m afraid I don’t react in the same way.  He always and faithfully did his best, even when the chips were down.  Do I, in every position God places me in, do my utmost best for those in authority and for God?  So here I am studying this in the Bible and thinking about Joseph’s story and I get one of my weekly Bible study e-mails I’m signed up for and it is about, guess what?  Joseph.  “Okay,” I think.  “I really have to write about this now.  Everything is coming together and it’s meant to be.”  I was inspired and motivated to write!  So I sit down to my computer and begin typing.  The words just flow out onto the page.  I write for several hours, and then get pulled away from the computer for a while before I finally get back to finish what I’d written.  I had my Bible in front of my computer for reference as I wrote and when I went to turn a page I slid my Bible out from under the monitor and over my keyboard.  A few minutes earlier the thought had crossed my mind that I should copy what I’d written in my blog entry page and paste it into Word to save it, just in case.  I failed to heed this mental warning however.  As I tilted my Bible up to read a verse I was thinking of the bottom of the Bible pressed in the F5 key (which refreshes the page you are looking at).  In horror and panic I watched as my 3 page piece disappeared into the void of cyberspace…

   NO!  I screamed, mostly internally…  I tried every trick I knew hoping to retrieve my day’s work.  Nothing.  It was gone forever.

   I wanted to cry, yell at the top of my lungs, or crawl into a corner and sulk.  All my work, all my inspiration!  It was gone forever.  As I thought about it began to become very apparent how ironic this all was.  I’d been writing about how Joseph, despite all the he had been through in his life, did not react with screams, throwing a tantrum, or cursing God.  And he had been through things that make all my trials look like a pleasant dream.  And how was I reacting?  I was close to tears and grinding my teeth in frustration and anger.  All that I had left was my title to my blog entry… When All Goes Wrong…

   I ended up learning quite a bit more from this study than I’d originally thought, and repeating this to my family and friends has been quite interesting in itself. “Wow, that’s really amazing!” they said, and urged me to “get back on the horse” and rewrite the “article”.  So I present it here to you, in all its irony and sweet grace.  I hope that this touches your heart!