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Godliness Isn’t For Sissies
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 Godliness Isn’t For Sissies One day a teen boy was sent by his dad to check on his brothers, and he walked a long ways to find them at their work site. All of a sudden, someone, he couldn’t tell who at first, until he got a better look at him and found it one of his own brothers, grabbed hold of him violently, and threw him down into an abandoned well! He cried out continuously for what seemed like forever, for someone--anyone--to help him, but it seemed that no one wanted to get involved. Finally, one of his brothers came to get him out, and boy was he glad! But wait, the brothers weren’t going to take him home to dad, instead, they sold him to slave traffickers who took him to another country! What was going on? Well, those that know their Bibles are well aware by now that this is the story about a young man named Joseph. In Old Testament times he was in the patriarchal line of the nation Israel. The treachery and cruelty by his brothers would have ended in his death had it not been for the quick thinking of one of the brothers. But why were they so angry with him? It all had to do with a prophetic dream Joseph had when he was younger, a dream that came from God, that prophesied how he would be lifted up above his brothers and even his father Jacob, and how they would eventually all come to bow down to him! This provoked great jealousy against Joseph, and the fact that their father showed partiality to him over them didn’t exactly help the situation either! Well, as it all turned out, it took more than twenty-one years for this breach in the family to be healed! But I suppose we ought to be thankful, since many break-ups in families, over far less than what caused the rift in Jacob’s family, have caused murders, hatred and alienation to occur that have never been healed.
Among some invaluable lessons we learn from Joseph’s life, one is: there is no maturity without suffering. The Bible is filled with teaching concerning suffering and how God is able to use it in the lives of His people to mature and help them. In fact, God can even use our suffering to help others as well. He did this very thing in the life of Potiphar as well as Pharaoh himself, two powerful leaders of that day who came in contact with Joseph. It was actually that very fact that caused the great blessings in their lives, since God blessed them because of their association with Joseph! One final lesson, though there are many more, that we can learn from Joseph, is that hope is more than what we usually think of. Hope is desire coupled with expectancy! Joseph was filled with hope because he was walking with God! Because Joseph had real hope, he also had real endurance! He knew how to run from sin, and toward the Lord! There is so much more, and if you’d like to continue learning from the life of Joseph, we offer an exceedingly exciting course (40700 Joseph) on this man’s life in our free BBN Bible Institute at www.BBNBI.org. Check it out, and if you receive a blessing, do like Joseph, share it with others who can also use a lift! |
Written By:
David Wyatt
Date Posted:
5/6/2015 9:42 AM
Number of Views:
5416
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