Have you ever had a difficult time in your life? I have. Have you ever been tempted to take things into your own hands? Have you ever thought you could do things better then God? I have. How did that turn out for you? I know for me it has never worked out. I have always had to fall back to God. I do not know when I will learn to start with God.
In order to understand more about trials and temptations I would like to look at Joseph. Joseph started out with a proud and arrogant attitude toward his brothers by sharing his dream with his brothers. “He said to them, ‘Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.’” Genesis 37:6-7 (ESV) Obviously Joseph was certainly not very humble, and his lack of humility angered his brothers, who already were angry because Joseph was their father’s favorite. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.” Genesis 37:3 (ESV) Joseph did not stop there he doubled down with his brothers and added his father as well. Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his father and brothers and said, ‘“Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?’”Genesis 37:9-10 (ESV) I do not know about you but being told dreams like these would have made me angry especially if it came from my youngest brother or child.
The brothers responded by conspiring to kill him. “They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.” Genesis 37:18. However, his brother Rueben intervened and saved his life but threw him into a pit to die. However, that was not God’s plan. “Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’” Genesis 37:26-27 (ESV)
Now Joseph is on the way to Egypt to become a slave to an Egyptian Captain of the Guard named Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife took a liking to the handsome Joseph, and she told him to lay with her. Joseph refused because it would have been a sin against Potiphar and God. “But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.” Genesis 39:11-12 (ESV) She then used his garments to lie about what happened and Joseph was thrown into prison.
While in prison Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners the baker and the cupbearer of Pharoah. When the cupbearer went back to work, He asked him to tell Pharoah about the dreams Joseph interpreted. But the cupbearer did not. So, Joseph remained in prison for two more years until Pharoah had a dream that no one could interpret, and the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Pharoah called Joseph to him to interpret his dreams. Joseph during this time had gained some humility and when Pharoah aske Joseph to interpret his dream Joseph responded ‘“It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.’” Genesis 41:16 (ESV) Upon successfully giving Pharoah the interpretation, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.’” Genesis 41:39-40 (ESV)
Now the famine predicted in Pharoah’s dream came about and because of Joseph’s stewardship of the plenty that God had provided there was food. This famine also hit Israel and Joseph’s brothers. They came to Egypt to get food. Not knowing that the person the brothers were dealing with was their brother Joseph they received food and then eventual Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers and brought Israel and all of his family to Egypt. This resulted in seventy Israelites living in Egypt.
Finally, after Jacob had died in Egypt, Joseph said something profound to his brothers.“But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 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. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” Genesis 50:19-21 (ESV) I believed Joseph learned that God is sovereign even when things are not going the way that he had expected them to go. He understood God had a plan and Joseph had his part to play in God’s plan, and because of that understanding Joseph had hope. I also believe that God made Joseph into a better man through his times of trials and temptations. Since God never changes, I too can have hope because God has a plan for me even when I am experiencing trials and temptation.
So, join me in trusting God in your trials and temptations knowing that He is using them to make you a better man or woman. Knowing that God always has a plan for your life. He will protect us and answer us and that gives us hope. God is the only One who can give you true hope. He can make all things right. As you search receive hope for yourself and give hope to others by living in God’s faithfulness. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because of that we ought to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in choosing Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google
