Joseph was a child loved by
his father who gave him a coat of many colours. He was that guy whose father
came back from work and after talking to everyone generally, would call Joseph
aside to give him special gifts and then instead of keeping mum about it, Joseph
would run outside with the gift and taunt his brothers with it. He was the
privileged one, and he wasn't going to be calm about it.
One would expect that that level
of exposure would be sufficient to qualify him as a prime minister. However, in
God’s plan that stature wasn’t sufficient to support the weight of Joseph’s
destiny. Joseph's was destined to save the children of Israel but his path to
prime minister was laced with jealousy, betrayal, blackmails, ingratitude. On
the external, it appeared that the environment was crafting different ways to
kill and defeat him, but in God’s plan, those same attempts provided a
launchpad for God to make him into a man that will save a generation and
progress a prophecy.
Psalms 105 tells
us the role of Joseph in the scheme of things. He was a template that God
wanted the children of Israel to operationalize. Like Joseph, they too were
bene-babies. In a time of global recession, when the rest of the world was scampering
for survival, God created a favour protocol in the person of Joseph that
preserved the children of Israel. As foreigners, they got the best of the land;
constant light, prime real estate at the time, I’m sure access into the political
circles and arena because they had a man on the inside, who infact was only second
in command by title. Their guy was everyone’s boss. Like Joseph, they were the
favoured, and they had too much privilege. God had prepared a promise land for
them but in God’s eyes, He wanted them to step into the promise land tried.
When we consider
the story of the children of Israel vs the story of Joseph, a few things come
to light;
o You are a factor into your journey. For e.g. what really annoyed Joseph’s brothers was probably how he taunted them daily. You are a factor in your growth process. How you interact and respond determines how long your growth process will take.
o As Joseph navigated his journey, he was careful to purge himself of things not consistent with God i.e. pride, a sense of haste, unforgiveness, revenge, and a sense of entitlement. He needed to displace them so he could access his heights in God. However, the children of Israel couldn’t. If you don't displace it, it would dispose and depose you in the agenda of God and design of God for your destiny.
o You can’t step into the promise land with mixed sound. The older generation of the children of Israel wanted to enter into the promise land with an old wine skin - complaints, and a faulty mix of Christianity and worldliness.
o Joseph adopted selective remembrance. Two things happened in Joseph's past. All of the slight of hand I mentioned, but then in the same past, was the vision of the future that God gave to him. Knowing that all of these things were used by God to exalt him to save his nation, he only chose to focus on the dream and forget the slight. What you choose to remember reinforces either faulty dysfunctions in your life or launches you into the picture God showed you. Choosing to forget is not denial that those events happened, it is removing the power of those events to determine the future in front of you. You have the power of remembrance. Take away the shame, allow yourself a new lease of life. Your age in your experience is not an exclusion criteria in your emergence in the scheme of things. Those events didn't happen to you to disqualify you but actually to prepare you. The intent of the enemy is to make you think your story is your disqualifier but if you will look at it from a redemptive lens, see it as a preparatory pathway for the glorious destiny He has designed for you and the emancipation of others
