We can learn a lot by studying the life of Joseph. His problems started with a special coat that his father gave him. His eleven brothers didn’t get one, but he did. That stirred resentment. Then there were the crazy dreams:
“Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So he said to them, ‘Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.’”
Genesis 37:5-7
The brothers didn’t laugh the incident off, saying that his dream was crazy. Instead, they took it very seriously—because of its connotation:
“And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” (verse 8)
Despite their reaction, Joseph told his brothers about another dream:
Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
He told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37:9-11
His brothers hated Joseph because of envy. It poisoned their hearts to a point of wanting to commit murder. Instead, they defaulted to tossing him into a well, then they sold him into slavery—hoping to never see him again.
Joseph had the favor of his father—and a special coat to prove it, and a small army of older brothers to take care of him. Being thrown by them into a well and sold into slavery must have left him with a justified sense of rejection.
We were once part of the sinful world, and, like Joseph, were sold into slavery, taken captive by Satan to do his will. The Apostle Paul speaks of our slavery, and our redemption in Christ:
“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” Romans 6:17
In Christ, we now have the favor of the Father—and as evidence of that we received the gift of a special gift—a robe of righteousness. Our life should therefore be a bed of roses. But it is not. It is because of that robe that the world hates us:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10
Joseph was rejected by his brothers, transported into a foreign land, and sold into slavery. How frightening that must have been for a 17-year-old. Every security had been ripped from his hands—no more to see the smile of his loving father, no coat of many colors—something his brothers dipped in blood:
“So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood.” Genesis 37:31
The precious blood of Jesus was also shed so that we could have His robe of righteousness:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Even though scripture doesn’t explicitly tell us that during this time of testing that Joseph had faith in God, it would seem that he did.
Joseph was sold as a slave into the household of Potiphar. He was of such good character that Potiphar entrusted him with every part of his household. But there was a problem. The man had a lusty wife who could not take her eyes off Joseph’s good looks. She wanted him, and continually hounded him to betray her husband and commit adultery:
“And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:7-9 (KJV)
Had Joseph fallen into sin, the result would be twofold. 1. He would do a “great wickedness” if he betrayed Potiphar’s trust. And 2., to commit adultery with her, would be to “sin against God.”
“And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.” Genesis 39:10-12 (KJV)
This incident not only reveals Joseph’s faith in God, but it also helps us in our battle with lust. Potiphar’s wife is around every corner, hounding us day after day to compromise our faith. She wants to take hold of our garment of righteousness and rip it from us, leaving us with no covering for our shame.
What Joseph did was not complicated. He ran like an Olympic sprinter. And there’s the answer to sexual temptation. Flee fornication. Run as fast as you can from sexual sin. Don’t be like David or Solomon and so many others who let their eyes take control of their heart. Jesus told us what to do if our eye does that:
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:29
We are running a race, and lust is perhaps our biggest hurdle—especially for us men. If we clear one today, we can be sure there will be another one tomorrow. And then another. Lust will only be gone for good when we hit the finish line. So keep running, and do not look back. Lot’s wife did that. Instead, look to Jesus.
Joseph did the right thing, but despite that, there was another well waiting. A deep one, and no one was going to pull him from it for many years.
“The Christian life is full of trials, but like an athlete who sets his sights on the gold, we know that every trial, every pain is working together for our good (see Romans 8:28) and building the muscle of a godly character.”
Joseph’s rejection of her advances had left Potiphar’s wife furious. She accused him of sexual violation, and so Joseph not only lost his reputation and his job, but he lost what freedom he had. He was tossed into an Egyptian jail, without air conditioning. And he stayed there for 13 long years, until God finally delivered him. During all these trials, Joseph continued to develop a godly character.
The Christian life is full of trials, but like an athlete who sets his sights on the gold, we know that every trial, every pain is working together for our good (see Romans 8:28) and building the muscle of a godly character.
When Stephen was preaching to those who were about to take his life so horribly, he expounded the greatest of truths when to came to the life of Joseph:
“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.” Acts 7:9-10
“But God was with him.” Nothing else mattered. Paul reiterates that truth for us in the Book of Romans:
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Then he reminds of the coat our Father gave us:
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)
And he then lists the wells into which we are so often dropped, likening us to being thought by this world as sheep for the slaughter (vs 36). Despite that, he puts us at the front of the race:
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:37 (KJV)
Job suffered trial after terrible trial, and still pointed to the gold, saying “…when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 (KJV)
