God’s Got A Plan

Genesis 37

Ever been sold by your brother or sister to slave traders? Didn’t think so. Now go meet Joseph by reading Genesis 37. Woah right? Super sketch. On the one hand, you may be thinking, “haha, he deserved it…jerk, always bragging about his dreams” yet on the other hand you may be thinking, “wow, his brothers are awful, selling their own brother to slave traders?” And this story is quite shocking. It illuminates a very unhealthy family dynamic within Jacob’s family, ultimately stemming from his own favoritism; all of Jacob’s other sons hate Joseph because he is treated so nicely, similar to a firstborn son would be treated. He gets a colorful robe! Who wouldn’t want a colorful robe back in those days? It’s basically like getting the most awesome, newest [insert article of clothing] that you’ve always wanted! Except that it’s your little sibling who gets it, not you. Oh, the jealousy Joseph’s brosephs must have felt. And of course, Joseph being the naïve, younger sibling he is has the bright idea of sharing all of his dreams with his brothers, all of which seem to point to his future dominion over them. Not the best idea given the circumstances. But before we go any further, I think it’s important to note that Joseph’s dreams were from God. It was in His will for Joseph to dream these dreams and it serves as foreshadowing to God’s future plan for Joseph’s life in saving many. Yet, as we finish Genesis 37, we do not see any inkling of God using Joseph’s life for anything other than hard work and toiling for his slave masters. Keep in mind he is currently a SLAVE! I don’t know exactly what that means for his culture and time period but what I do know is that Joseph was sold and now has fewer rights than a normal human being would. So much for God having a plan for his life…he’s a slave now, there’s no possible way that God would be able to use him right? Right? Wrong. God’s plan is so much bigger than the limited human scope we use to look at the events of our life. We only see the beginning of Joseph’s story in this chapter, yet God already sees the bigger picture and works beyond just this one chapter that we have read today.

So…a challenge for us today: look beyond our present circumstances and pray that God would continue to reveal His broader, bigger plan to us. Pray that He would show you what His plan is for your life and that you would be able to rise above your current struggles to become the person He has called you to be. And I also challenge you to stop and listen to God today; often, it’s really easy to ask all these things of God and we forget to stop to listen to His response. So whatever that may look like for you, listen to Him and wait for His response. For He is faithful.