So many times, we are depressed and/or overwhelmed by the troubles and trials we face daily. Take a few minutes to read this story which many of you may have heard as a youngster. Reading it now as an adult will bless your heart as you see God’s plan unfold in the life of Joseph.

This story can be found in the book of Genesis about a young man named Joseph whose father was Jacob and mother was Rachael. He had a younger brother Benjamin but he also had older step-brothers and a step-sister. Rueben was the oldest, and Joseph and Benjamin were number eleven and twelve in the household. I’m sure by now you are wondering why this is important to the story. You will see as the story continues, how God’s plan and God’s promise evolved to what later became the twelve tribes of Israel as he had made a promise to Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather that he would make Israel a great nation. It was Jacob’s sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob loved his wife Rachel the most and when she finally conceived a son, it was apparent to all those around him who his favorite son was. One day as the story unfolds in Genesis 37, Joseph was in the pasture with the flocks and so were a couple of his brothers. They must have been up to no good because Joseph reported the incident to his father. Of course, this didn’t sit well with the brothers and it drove a stronger wedge between Joseph and his brothers. If this wasn’t enough to make them dislike him, Jacob made a special coat for Joseph. It was an unusual coat of colors representing nobility and not the usual coat of a sheep herder. Jealousy, anger, and fear that their father would leave all the inheritance to Joseph built up their emotions and so they plotted a plan to do away with Joseph.

Oh, but in the meantime Joseph had a dream which he told them all. This dream was about binding sheaves in the field and Joseph’s sheaf arose and stood upright while all of theirs gathered around it and bowed down to his sheaf. Well, then the brothers began to question him. Are you saying that you will rule and reign over us?

As if that wasn’t enough, Joseph had another dream in which the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to him. This dream he told his father and brothers. His father rebuked him and said shall I and your mother and brothers bow down to you? This added to the jealousy and anger the brothers had for Jacob, but the father kept this in his heart.

One day the brothers moved the herd of sheep into another area of the country to find grazing land. Joseph was left with his father, but Jacob wanted a report on how the men were doing and where they were located. So he sent Joseph to check on them and bring word back.

They saw him coming from afar and the brothers talked among themselves and plotted to kill him. Rueben the oldest tried to persuade the others not to kill him because the murder would be on their hands. He suggested they leave him in a cistern which he secretly intended to come back for Joseph after the men and herd had moved on.

However, while Rueben was gone, the other brothers hearing a caravan of Ishmaelites coming through the desert on their way to Egypt to sell their goods, decided to sell Joseph as a slave. Which they did, but then had to make up a story to tell their father. So, they tore the coat of many colors up into pieces and dipped it in the blood of an animal. When they took it to their father, he assumed a wild animal had killed Joseph. Jacob was very sad and was not able to compose himself because his favorite son, the one who would receive his inheritance was dead.

The traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The officer observed that the Lord’s hand was on Joseph and that everything he did was successful. So he gave Joseph charge of everything in his household. However, that ended with Joseph in jail when Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of coming into her room and had his robe to prove it.

During his time in jail, he was able to interpret several dreams, one for the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and one for the baker who had both been thrown in the pit with him. Joseph had hoped that the cupbearer would remember him when he was restored to his job as cupbearer again. But he did not, and Joseph spent another two years in the house of the jailer. One day, he was summoned to interpret a dream for the Pharoah because when none of the magicians or wise men of Egypt were able to give answers to the dream, the cupbearer remembered Joseph.

Joseph listened to the dream and then told the pharaoh that God had blessed him with a prediction of what was about to happen in Egypt: There would be seven years of good crops and after that, there would be seven years of famine.

He even told the Pharoah to appoint good overseers of the crops and to begin saving back 1/5 of the crops to help through the famine years. The Pharoah and all of his servants and commanders were so impressed with Joseph’s interpretation and solution that they put him in charge of all of the land of Egypt. Genesis 41:38…”Can we find a man like this, ‘in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Are you watching how God’s plan for Joseph is unfolding? The good news is Joseph was loved by his father, the bad news is his brothers hated him, the good news is he landed in the home of an important officer, the bad news is the wife used him to make her husband jealous and he landed in jail, the good news is the cupbearer, who had been jailed with Joseph, on his release remembered Joseph interpreting his dream and gave Joseph a chance to get an audience with the Pharoah.

Are you relating to this story yet? I want you to see that as we move through life with trials and troubles, two things happen: our testimony reflects that we are a child of God and that God is always caring for us.

For the next seven years, Joseph stored the corn and grains of abundant years of good crops and when the famine came everyone it says from all over the earth had to come to Egypt to buy food. One of those people just happened to be Joseph’s father who learned that Egypt had plenty of grain for sale. He sent all of his sons to buy grain but kept Benjamin back. He was afraid something would happen to him.

When the brothers got to Egypt, Joseph recognized them, but of course, the brothers had no idea that the overseer was their brother Joseph for he was clothed in the finest Egyptian garments and gold jewelry, and I suspect that his beard was in the style of the Egyptians. Joseph accused the brothers of coming there to spy so he had all of them confined to prison for three days and then inquired again about them being spies. In their answer, they told him that they were all honest men of one father and brothers of twelve of which one was gone and one was left with their father. Then Joseph inquired about their father and the one brother left behind. He said he would sell them grain, but one of the men would have to be left behind in confinement until they brought back the other brother to prove their story was true.

Joseph gave orders to his servants to place each man’s money back in their grain bags. When the men stopped for a night’s rest, they discovered the money at the top of each one of the grain bags. They all became afraid. They arrived home and explained all of what had happened, and that they couldn’t go back to Egypt to buy grain unless they brought their brother Benjamin back with them. This greatly disturbed Jacob, but when the grain was gone, they had no choice but to go back. After must deliberation, it was decided to take Benjamin with them.

When they arrived in Egypt, Joseph ordered that all should be fed from his table and he asked the servants to give five times more grain to Benjamin. As they were leaving once again with their bags of grain, Joseph asked the servant to once again put their money back in their bags but in Benjamin’s bag along with the money they were to place a silver cup from Joseph’s table.

After the men left and were on their journey, Joseph sent the servant after them to check the bags of grain. The money was found in each of the bags but when he got to Benjamin’s bag, he found the money and the silver cup. The servant said that he was to bring that person back to Joseph for punishment. But the brothers were concerned that if they went back to their father without the youngest it would be his death. So, they all went back to beg for mercy and to see if one of them could be imprisoned instead of Benjamin.

Joseph was so emotional he could no longer hold back the tears. He told the men who he was and inquired to see if Jacob was still living. When he finally composed himself, he sent the men with many wagons and many goods with a message to his father to move everyone to Egypt where there would be plenty of grazing land and an abundance of everything for them. His brothers were overwhelmed, they bowed low and prostrate on the floor. Joseph’s reply to them for what they had done. “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

“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

God has a purpose and a plan for your life.