in the beginning Genesis chapter thirty-nine I
“God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.”
Have you heard this statement (or one like it) before? While it's true that God does love us and does have a wonderful plan for our lives, there's another side to this saying as well. You see, while people are often quick to focus on the good things that a statement like this implies, we somehow never seem to imagine that God's "wonderful" plan might also include some painful, hurtful things that we can't easily explain.
This was something that was clearly demonstrated in the life of Joseph, a man who is one of the most interesting character studies in the entire Bible. You see, there was a time in Joseph's life when he held a position of approval and honor as the favorite son of his father. He had been given the clothing of someone with privilege, status, and respect. And all of these things disappeared from Joseph's life in just a few short hours.
You see, Joseph had been thrown into an empty water well and left for dead by some members of his own family. Then they changed their minds and sold him as a slave to a group of traveling merchants. These merchants forced Joseph to travel about 300 miles (500 km) away to the nation of Egypt where he was sold like a piece of merchandise to the highest bidder (Genesis 37:36).
So Joseph had been taken to a foreign country to live in a strange place with unfamiliar customs. He was now a slave in a home with people he didn’t know, who spoke in a language that he didn't understand. He had been cut off from his family, friends, and everything that had been familiar to him. But as we'll see, Someone was there for Joseph- and that Person was quietly orchestrating the events of his life to serve a higher purpose.
"Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there" (Genesis 39:1).
We should remember that Joseph had spent his entire life up to this point living on his family's ranch back home. This provided Joseph with a good deal of knowledge about the needs of an agricultural economy and the care and feeding of animals. But things were very different in Egypt and Joseph would have to quickly learn a new set of skills if he wanted to survive there.
The Doctor is not a real
doctor but he plays one on the Internet. E-Mail prescriptions are also
available on an individual basis.
Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from The
Living Bible, © 1971, Tyndale House Publishers Back
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