Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.
Psalm 105:19
Joe was your average teenager, full of dreams and plans. His father spoiled him rotten, his colorful duds proof of his father’s wealth and favor. Joe worked in the family business, never straying far from home. His older brothers were the ones who did the traveling.
On the surface, Joe’s life looked pretty sweet. Yet behind closed doors, his brothers grumbled against him. Dreamer, they called him. Daddy’s pet. As though that weren’t enough, Joe bragged about his dreams, dreams that appeared to imply he would surpass them. There was no way they were going to let that happen.
So they plotted and schemed, bent on ridding themselves of that pesky little brother with such big airs. The oldest sibling didn’t want to assassinate Joe, just send the kid off to boarding school or some desert island. Get him out of his hair for a bit.
Unfortunately, the other brothers wanted Joe dead. No fuss, no muss, just knock him off once and for all, then move on. Sure, Dad would grieve his son but he’d get over it. Didn’t he have eleven other sons to dote on?
Thus, Joseph became the target of his brothers’ hatred. By God’s grace, his life was spared. Tied alongside a camel, he shuffled through the hot desert, wondering how his plans went so wrong.
Sold as a slave to Potiphar, Joe worked his tail off from dawn to dusk. While the other slaves snuck into the kitchen for a cold one, he swept, and polished, and dusted until the house sparkled. While the other slaves gathered around the kitchen TV to watch the ball game, he fed and watered the master’s camels. While the other slaves slept, he organized the master’s files and readied the notes for the next day.
Then Potiphar’s wife tried to lure him into bed. While the master worked away from home, she primped and made plans to seduce him. When that didn’t work, her lust turned to anger. She’d show this stuck-up prude she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She laid her trap, and Joe fell right into it.
Before he knew it, Joe was staring at four dingy walls. His cellmates were rats. His sole adornment, shackles. Joe could have given up, he could have sunken into a state of dejection. Who would have blamed him if he’d sung the blues?
Yet Joe refused to give in to self-pity. Instead, he reorganized the jail. Within days, the place was humming along as nicely as a well-oiled engine. When two of the prisoners asked him to interpret his dreams, he pointed heavenward.
“Only God can interpret dreams,” he said. “But tell me what you dreamt and may the Lord reveal to me what they meant.”
And so it happened. The baker was killed, and the wine taster was promoted according to the interpretations God revealed to Joseph. Yet nothing happened. Joe remained locked in prison.
But God…. But God was with Joseph. He was with Joseph in the well where his brothers dropped him after stealing his coat of many colors. He was with Joseph in the hot desert. He was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house. He was with Joseph in prison.
Eventually, good old Joe became Master Joseph, second in command to Pharaoh. Talk about a promotion! From the prison to the palace, from slave to second-in-command. In one day!
Psalm 105:19 offers a hint for all of Joseph’s troubles. “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.” God was refining Joseph, filing off those rough edges, so he could become an efficient leader.
Testing and God’s anointing often go hand in hand. Those God uses, He refines. To those He refines, He shows His faithful love. God chose a spoiled teenager and transformed him into a leader in order to save His chosen people.
If you were to ask Joe if he thought those fifteen years of suffering were worth it, I’m sure he’d answer, “100%.”