God's Plan and Purpose for Joseph (4)

God's Plan and Purpose for Joseph (4)

Joseph could no longer restrain his emotions. He commanded all the servants to leave and revealed himself to his brothers (Genesis 45:1). Then he wept aloud (verse 2).  Joseph said to them: "... I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. God sent me ahead of you to bring you all as a group and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God." (Verses 4-5, 7-8).

Joseph came to understand God’s plan and purpose. He had dreamed two dreams at age 17 (37:6-11), but it was not until he was 39 (he became prime minister of Egypt at 30, then came seven years of plenty followed by two years of famine = age 39) that he understood why God had given him those dreams, why God had allowed him to be hated by his brothers and sold into Egypt, Why he was falsely accused and imprisoned. Why he was made to interpret the dreams of the chief cupbearer, a servant of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, leading him to interpret Pharaoh's own dreams two years later. And why God elevated him from being a “household steward” in Potiphar's house and then elevated him to handle all affairs in prison, ultimately establishing him as prime minister over the entire nation of Egypt. He came to understand God's purpose. That purpose was precisely this: “God intended to save lives... God intended to preserve your lives through a great deliverance and to establish your descendants on the earth...”

These were brothers who not only hated him but even tried to kill him, and who ultimately sold him into slavery. Yet God used Joseph, from the age of 17 to 39, to endure all that hatred, the threat of death, being sold, slavery, and imprisonment—all so that God could save and preserve their lives and those of their descendants, placing them in this world. Understanding God's grand plan and purpose, Joseph could tell his brothers, “It was not you who sent me here, but God” (verse 8). Though his brothers had sold him into Egypt, Joseph declared God had sent him there. And he explained that God had sent him to Egypt “before” his brothers for the purpose of saving their lives and the lives of their descendants. Joseph, who had dreamed at age 17 but did not understand the meaning of those dreams, only came to know God's will at age 39, 22 years later.

How could he have remained unaware of God's plan and purpose for him for 22 years... enduring suffering for 13 years from age 17 until becoming prime minister of Egypt at 30... yet the Bible records no instance of Joseph complaining or murmuring against God during that time. He did not sin against God with his lips or his actions. How was this possible? It was because Joseph did not rely on his own understanding but trusted in God with all his heart (Prov 3:5-6). It was because Joseph believed God's will for him was “good, pleasing, and perfect” (Rom 12:2).

Through such people of faith, God accomplishes His plans and purposes.