February 15, 2013 … Becoming a Joseph

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 46

Passage of the Day: Psalm 105 [underlined below in the context of verses 17-19] [NLT] …  
17 Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them — Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 There in prison, they bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. 19 Until the time came to fulfill his word, the LORD tested Joseph’s character. 
============

Contextual Study of today’s passage: Psalm 105 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
 ============

Reference Passage #1: Romans 8: 28 : [NKJV] … {So often this verse comes up as reference for our lives, doesn’t it?} … All things work together for the good of those who love God and are the called according to His purpose 

My Journal for Today: Have you ever wondered why God, in His Bible, devoted so much time in Genesis to the story of Joseph? And even David, when he was reviewing the trek of Israel’s history in Psalm 105, featured in today’s devotional, devoted a significant portion of his lyrics to Joseph’s life as well, including the portion about Joseph’s imprisonment after the incident with Potipher’s wife (see also Genesis 39).

Personally, I think Joseph is highlighted so much, as was the life of Moses, because they are examples of what it takes for God to prepare special people for specially called ministries or missions in life. And Os Hillman’s question in his devotional teaching today … ”Do you want to be a Joseph? … rings loudly to Christians today because it certainly looks like we’re headed toward some economic and cataclysmic famine in the world; and we’re going to need men like Joseph or Moses to deliver God’s remnant of believers. But I’m not going to get prophetic here. I just want to reflect on how God often prepares the right person for His purposes in any segment of His history; and that preparation very often is through privation or problems.

Both Joseph and Moses were led through segments of their lives before they came into prominence and power where they had to endure a lot of challenging and problematic circumstances, which God used to prepare them to handle the faith challenges they were to face to become God’s leaders for God’s people in rough times. Joseph, as we read in Psalm 105 and Genesis 39, was led, by his own Godly pursuits and choices, into prison, where his two years in shackles trained him to have great compassion and wisdom beyond his years when he came into power under Pharaoh upon release from prison.

Perhaps God has you going through some shackled set of circumstances in preparation for some future task where He can use you for His glory. That’s why, when we encounter some rough patch in our lives, especially one which is not brought on by our own misdeeds or ungodliness, we should look to the future - in faith - and do all we can to see that God is preparing us – as He did Joseph and Moses – to be His servants for some future task (big or small) which will glorify our Lord.

I pray we all become Josephs in the midst of our trials to see us through until we can become Josephs for God when we have the opportunity to do so. We must always – and I mean ALWAYS – have faith that Romans 8: 28 is absolutely true ALWAYS for the Christian; and God ALWAYS knows what is best to prepare us for His purposes in our future … even if that means going through some shackling set of circumstances for a season of our life.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I accept Romans 8: 28; but I pray that I can be prepared to deal with its truth when I’m dealt a Joesph set of circumstances in my life. … Amen