Our Plans

Most of us have plans. As a child, we might have dreams of being a doctor, fireman, football player, or president. In high school, we start getting more “realistic” about how we want to make a living. Once we are in a career, we plan on getting a promotion. At some point, we might meet our spouse and start planning for a house and children. We get older, and start thinking about retirement.
As you think back on your own life, how many of your plans turned out the way you thought they would? I have known some people who dated in high school, and they got married and lived happily the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, that is the exception. Most of the time, things don’t turn out as we had planned when we were young.

Jacob

In the book of Genesis, we meet Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. He was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel (the 12 sons he fathered). He loved the Lord, and was a godly man, but he was far from perfect. In fact, he deceived his own father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn child, instead of his slightly older twin brother, Esau. Jacob and Esau’s mother, Rebekah, sent Jacob back to her hometown, a long way off. He went to find a wife. Once he got there, he met Rachel, and fell in love with her. He agreed with her father to work for him for seven years, so that he could marry Rachel. This was his plan, but it didn’t work out that way.
On his wedding night, Rachel’s father secretly deceived Jacob. He had his other daughter, Leah, waiting for Jacob. Jacob did not realize the deception until the next morning. The father then said that Jacob had to agree to work for another seven years to have the right to marry Rachel.

Deception

On his wedding night, Rachel’s father secretly deceived Jacob. He had his other daughter, Leah, waiting for Jacob. Jacob did not realize the deception until the next morning. The father then said that Jacob had to agree to work for another seven years to have the right to marry Rachel. Although this was an incredibly wrong thing to do — for Jacob, Leah, and Rachel — God used the situation to provide many children for Jacob.
Jacob made plans. The father seemingly “ruined” those plans. God redeemed the situation and used it for good.
This is a pattern we see many times in the Bible, and even in our own lives. Our job is to make sure that we keep a godly attitude and trust God with everything.

Joseph

As we said earlier, Jacob was not a perfect man. One of the problems with having more than one wife is preferring one over another, which brings out jealousy. Jacob did prefer Rachel. After many years of not being able to have children, she gave birth to a son named Joseph. Joseph quickly became his favorite son, probably because he was born to his favorite wife, and he “was the son of his old age” (Gen.37:3). (Remember, favoritism is bad.)
It seems that Joseph was not just Jacob’s favorite, but God had a special plan for his life. Joseph was probably happy being the favorite son, but God had much more in store for him. He had his father’s favor, but because of this, his brothers hated him. Things were about to get worse, though.

Joseph was just trying to understand his dream, and his brothers hated him for it. They thought that he was being arrogant and prideful, even though it doesn’t seem like that was the case. Many times, we can see a glimpse of God’s plans and not understand. We can even misinterpret what God is doing.

Another Dream

Now, even his parents were upset with him. Joseph was just trying to understand what was happening in his young life, and it seemed that no one around him could help. They all accused him of pride and arrogance.

From Bad to Worse

Life must have been hard for Joseph, but it was about to get worse. Jacob would have Joseph go out to the fields and check on his brothers, to make sure that they were tending to the sheep. This also upset his (all older) brothers.
One day, Joseph was going out to check on his brothers and the flocks. They saw him coming, and let their anger get the better of them.

Imagine your own brothers being angry enough to actually plan to kill you. Thankfully, Reuben, the oldest brother, wanted to save Joseph’s life.

Reuben had a plan, but, once again, that’s not what happened.

Sold Into Slavery

The brothers had thrown Joseph into a hole in the ground, then they casually have lunch. They saw a caravan of Ishmaelites (their cousins through their their great-grandfather Abraham) on their way to Egypt. They sold Joseph to them as a slave, then lied to their father, Jacob, and told him Joseph was dead.

Potiphar’s House

When they got to Egypt, the traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of the bodyguard of Pharaoh (the Egyptian king). Even though Joseph was a slave, God was still with him. Even Potiphar saw that everything that Joseph did prospered. Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his whole household and everything he owned.
Once again, it seemed like things were getting a little better for Joseph, but that was about to change. Potiphar’s wife saw Joseph and wanted to sleep with him. As a godly man, Joseph kept refusing her. One day, Potiphar’s wife got angry and accused Joseph of trying to rape her. Of course, Potiphar believed his wife, and he had Joseph thrown in the royal jail.

Undeserved

Joseph could have taken the easy way out; he could have slept with Potiphar’s wife. Instead, he did the godly thing and maintained his integrity. Sometimes, we can do the right thing and still be accused of doing the wrong thing. This seems to be the pattern so far in Joseph’s life.

Faithfulness

Even though Joseph has hard things happening to him, he maintains his integrity, and he never loses his faith in, and faithfulness to, God. Because of this, God honors his faith, and is with him, even in the hard times.

Cupbearer and Baker

In those days, Pharaoh (the king) could have people put in prison just because they offended him.

Dreams

Joseph had a strong relationship with God, and he trusted that God would help him. After they told Joseph their dreams, he interpreted them. One was good news; the other one was bad news. Both interpretations came true. Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him when he was released, since he had been imprisoned unjustly. Once again, Joseph was disappointed.

Two More Years

Joseph had seen his chance of possibly getting out of this jail. He had done a great thing for the cupbearer, who was with the king every day. It probably seemed to him that no matter what he did, he never was able to have a “normal” life. Bad things seemed to follow him.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

After those two more years, Pharaoh had two more dreams. No one in his kingdom could interpret them, though. The cupbearer remembered Joseph and told the king about Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams. The king had Joseph brought to him. Joseph interpreted the dreams. Both of them had the same interpretation. There was going to be seven years of abundant crops, followed by seven years of famine.

Promotion

This was an impossible thing that just occurred. Joseph had gone from being in jail to being the most powerful man, next to the king, in the most powerful country in the world at the time. What makes this even more incredible is the fact that Joseph was a foreigner; he was not even an Egyptian.
He was still apart from his family, though.

Famine

When the famine came, Egypt was prepared. Joseph had commanded that they would store large portions of the abundant grain that was harvested in the good years. When the years of famine came, even Jacob and all of Joseph’s family experienced the famine. They came to Joseph, and he was able to provide for all of them.

Fulfilled Dreams

Joseph was now about 40 years old. The dreams that he had as a young boy finally came true. He was faithful to God, and God never left him. Joseph went through some very hard times, but God prospered him even in the hard times. Now, Joseph saw the ultimate reason he had to suffer all that he did.

God’s Purpose

Joseph had every right to be angry with his brothers. They had wanted to kill him. They actually sold him into slavery and lied to his father. He could have commanded that they be killed, and he could have his “revenge.” Some people would even say that would be the just thing to do. Joseph, as a godly man, knew the heart of God, and he saw God’s plan — even through all of the hard times.

Your Life

It might seem like you are living the life of Job or Joseph or one of the other “heroes” of the Bible. What makes them different — heroes — is their faithfulness to God. They never gave up.
Whatever you are going through today, remember that God will always be there with you, as long as you remain faithful to Him. He loves you, and will always redeem your life; sometimes in this life, sometimes only in the next.