God paints slowly.

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.
Genesis 50:20

Theologically, trying to reconcile how evil and good can co-exist with God's sovereignty is called "the problem of evil". I find it interesting that one of the earliest recorded struggles with this problem is recorded for us in the life of Joseph. And he has absolutely no tension over the question. His answer is straightforward to his brothers: what you meant for evil against me, God meant for good to save many. He does not diminish the responsibility of His brothers for their actions which were sinful. He also does not diminish the sovereign rule of God to use even those circumstances for His glory.

We self-centered Americans have a thing or two to learn from the life of Joseph. We expect a cushy life with all the amenities. That is one reason why prosperity theology and IHOP weirdness abounds in the current evangelical climate in America. It is twisted. It has no answer to the problem of evil because it is dualism. Good things can only be under God's control. Bad things can only be under the devil's control. If something difficult comes my way, God cannot be in it.

But that is not the case in scripture. God disciplines the sons He loves. God intervenes and moves beyond even the worst that humans do to each other in order to bring about His purposes. We may feel torn at the moment. I am sure Joseph struggled with his share of unhappiness as a slave, as a prisoner, or as a captive in a foreign land. But God used every one of those experiences to forge a nation and save Israel. God kept His covenant with Abraham's descendents through the trials of one young man.

God will go to great lengths in the course of a human life to show Himself. Providence takes time. It is not an instant photo kind of experience. It develops slowly, painted by the Master Artisan with slow and deliberate strokes, working on a torn canvas at times, but always with a beautiful result that shows the genius of a wise and knowing God.

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Joy woven from sorrow.

And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:7-8

I believe that the tears of joy that Joseph wept at his "unveiling" to his brothers came from two sources. The first was the joy in seeing the change that was occurring as circumstances and age began to humble his brothers. This was for him a moving moment, considering that he had endured slave status, had been falsely imprisoned and forgotten there, and had been exalted not only to Pharaoh's court, but to chief administrator of the surplus wealth of Egypt. His life was an emotional rollercoaster! This was just another part of the ride.

But the second source of the tears of joy is pure spiritual insight. Joseph has managed to slowly stitch together how the providence of God has cared for him and his family. This is overwhelming. God used the most horrendous things that happened to an innocent young man for His glory and the salvation of many souls. Think about all the bad actions God managed to weave around in order to sovereignly provide for His covenant with Israel. Joseph was favored unfairly by his dad, creating family strife. God gives the young man revelatory dreams to help him cope and serve notice to the family of a future for him. Joseph has no control over his brothers' disdain. He is sold into slavery, and God sends him to the captain of the Pharaoh of Egypt where he excels. He is falsely accused of sexual assault, God makes sure that because of Potiphar's status, Joseph ends up in a royal prison where he eventually interprets the dreams of two members of Pharaoh's court. Then God uses the dreams of Pharaoh to pull Joseph from the pit to the position of prime minister over all of ancient Egypt in one day. God uses the famine to bring Joseph's family back to him, where he serves in power, and the dreams of a boy are brought to fruition for the glory of the God of the covenant.

God's providence is beautiful. It brings joy. It moves us with emotion. It must, for when we see the wisdom of His ways, we see His love, His holiness, His justice, and His power. All of that is condensed down to this intense moment that Joseph has with His brothers. All that they had done that was bad, had somehow been turned by God for His purposes. He cannot change. He will not be undone by human will, no matter how bad we sin. And Joseph knew this. It was literally the story of His life.

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Change of Heart.

For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.' Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.
Genesis 44:32-34

Changed hearts are seen in Judah's appeal. The ESV Study Bible describes the change succinctly:
"Building on what he has already said, Judah petitions Joseph to let Benjamin return to his father in Canaan in order to prevent him from dying of grief at the loss of a second son. To make this possible, Judah offers to take Benjamin's place and become Joseph's slave (Gen. 44:33). For Judah, this would be preferable to witnessing his father's distress if Benjamin remained in Egypt (Gen. 44:34). The selfless attitude of Judah stands in sharp contrast to what he previously displayed when arguing that Joseph should be sold into slavery (see Genesis 37:26-27). On that occasion, Judah cared little about the impact that this would have on his father."

God has used the plans of Joseph to test his brothers in such a way as to prove their character and convince Joseph that there was real change that had gone on in them since his separation from him. Witnessing Judah's appeal made Joseph aware of what was happening in the mean hearts of his brothers. They had changed. The biggest evidence has to do with their relationship with Israel, their father. They had little regard for how Joseph's faked death would affect him. In fact, part of what they did in selling Joseph into slavery was meant to get back at their father's partiality to him. But know, as they have lived with their father's grief over many years, they are hurting for the old man. Judah's intervention and offer of himself in Benjamin's place shows that they had grown to care for their family, their father, and his feelings.

This represented everything that Joseph longed to see in them. And it will set the scene for what will occur in the final chapters of Genesis, where a happy family reunion is made. It is that sort of real-life drama that makes this book so interesting and compelling to read. It is rooted in who people are as they relate to God and one another. And the tale of Joseph is a wonderful and rich tapestry of human experience.

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Another Egyptian Expedition

So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
Genesis 43:15

This is now the second time in the midst of the seven year famine in which Joseph's family has been forced to go to Egypt and purchase grain. They must stand before their brother again. This time they are in a different place. They have learned a measure of honesty by bringing with them double the price of the grain in order to return to Joseph his refund on their first purchase. And they must bring Joseph's brother Benjamin with them as well. All in all, it is again an unnerving business trip ahead of them.

They are treated with much honor on this second excursion into Egypt. Joseph receives them into his own home. He prepares a feast for them. Benjamin is honored with five times the portion of any of the others, even as they all eat and drink and party like never before. They must have felt very strange to have this Egyptian governor take such notice of them.

God's providence is slowly bringing to the forefront changes in character and commitment within Jacob's sons. They offer to repay for the first purchase of grain... something that Joseph refuses to accept, telling them that God somehow returned their money to them. There are so many clues coming to them that this is Joseph, yet they remain in ignorance of what is really going on. I believe it is to show us the change taking place in them as they now must deal with circumstances beyond their limited control. They will see the work of sovereign God in the story when it all comes out!

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Dream to Reality

Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.
Genesis 42:6

The beginning of seeing a dream come true for Joseph has got to be a surreal experience. I am sure that he had resigned himself to his new political leadership in Egypt. There is a matter-of-fact sort of way in which the text talks about the exercise of his political power. He was the governor charged with the distribution of Egypt's carefully stored grain. And we already know from the text that he was a gifted planner and administrator. I think he thoroughly enjoyed the work. But the day came when unexpectedly the brothers who sold him into slavery show up in obedience to him.

God seems to use this event to get their attention. For the first time, we hear them banter around about their treatment of Joseph. There appear to be serious regrets. Physical famine, and the temporary incarceration of the brothers puts them in a different, more spiritual, frame of mind. And Joseph is seeing his boyhood vision from God begin to come into reality.

So it is with God's providential work. God's work is worth waiting for. God uses all the events in our lives, even the difficulties and pains, to bring about bigger purposes than we can see at the moment. That is the overwhelming spiritual truth that marked the life of Joseph and the sons of Israel. And that is still very much the reality of how God works today!

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From Prison to Prime Minister

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

In one day Joseph moves from being a prisoner to a prime minister. This is a dramatic work of God and it was worth all the waiting, the suffering, and the faithful witness. When the cupbearer remembers what Joseph did for him, he is immediately summoned from prison to stand before Pharaoh. There, he interprets the prophetic message of Pharaoh's dreams and the king takes note of the wisdom that Joseph entails with the interpretation of them.

But all the wonder of the story is focused on the God of Joseph. His interpretation of the dream lets Pharaoh know that he is convinced that God is bringing about both the outstanding bumper crops and the future famine. Egypt would respond to the sovereign act of God by preparing and administrating well. And Pharaoh quickly sees in Joseph the man to head up just such a project. But in picking him, it is clear that the king acknowledges God. Joseph is wise because God has shown him these things. And that is what the king recognizes and rewards.

So it is that any event, whether boon or bane, blessing or trial, must be seen as coming from the purposeful hand of an Almighty, Sovereign God. I long to be prime minister, but God is equally concerned that I am faithful while in the pit of prison. And if any good comes of this life, it is because God brings it about in me or through me.

I need the lessons of Joseph's faithful life. Of course, at this point in Genesis, God is just beginning to make things move in blessing for the faithful young Hebrew man. It would still take many years for God to restore his relationship with his family and repair those broken relationships. The young man would become the wise man of Egypt in the interim. And he would excel in the great times as well as in the hardships. Those are the lessons I need to learn.

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The God of the waiting.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Genesis 40:23

This is not the ending to this scene in Joseph's life that we want. We would hope that upon restoration to the court of Pharaoh, the cupbearer would immediately tell the king of Joseph's plight. But that was not the case. The human foibles in this story give it such plausibility. It is the ring of historical truth. Human beings forget their good fortune and encouragement. And that is what happened.

Evidently God had His reasons for keeping Joseph in prison for two more years. Perhaps it was to keep Joseph at the ready. Perhaps it was to teach the young man further lessons of trust. Perhaps it was to keep him humble so that when indeed he was called upon, it would be in a way that God would get the glory. And that is exactly what will happen. Joseph will be remembered by the cupbearer, not as a victim of injustice, but as a gifted interpreter of dreams, which was just what the Pharaoh needed.

Waiting is no fun. It is no fun in tragic circumstances. When our routine is reduced down to day after day after day of what we do not like or want, we might be tempted to forget God. And it is just those times when we need to trust Him most. God is using the pit of the prison. He is waiting for His time to bring us out in such a way as He is clearly in control. We must wait. But we will find God at work even in the waiting.

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A Shining Light in Difficult Days

From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field.  So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.
Genesis 39:5-6

In Joseph we find the merging of both character and blessing. He was a young man who did not let his circumstances drag him down. I am sure he felt like doing so. His brothers beat him up and threw him in a pit. He was sold into slavery. He was brought to a foreign land and in Egypt, where he did not know the language, the people, the customs, or even possess full humanity as a slave, he rose to honor, even as a slave. He was a remarkable individual.

Strong character and faith will always make up any deficit in our circumstances. Not because we are so great, but because that is what it takes to love and obey God and seek His blessing. That is exactly what happened with Joseph. He may have been a slave, but he was the noblest slave in Egypt, and God blessed him so that Potiphar, his master, prospered as well. And Potiphar kept giving responsibility to Joseph in return until the young man became the chief steward of all that he had.

In those circumstances, we would hope for a positive continuation of the story, but that is not the case. Potiphar's wife entices Joseph for sexual sin. Rather than hurt God or his master, Joseph flees the scene, and she cannot stand to be scorned. She falsely accuses him of attempted rape and Joseph is thrown into Egyptian prison. But even there God rewards his strength of character until Joseph, as model prisoner, is given liberties by the chief guard. Everywhere this young man goes, even in the downturns, he prospers in character and faith.

During uncertain times, I look to his example. I believe that a downturn, or a loss, may not necessarily be a bad thing. In fact, in scripture those are often times designed by God to prove His people and advance the knowledge of the Holy One. Joseph serves as an example as to what to do, and more importantly, how to trust in difficult days.

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