Joseph

² This is the account of Jacob.
      Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
 ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented ^[a] robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Many of you have heard the story of Joseph.  The Bible gives account of many men and women of the Bible who had great endings and whose lives bore testimony to the remarkable good they did in serving the Lord Jesus.  In fact, the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, often referred to as the "Hall of Faith" speaks about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Israelites (and the great faith they demonstrated passing through the Red Sea), Rahab.  All of these lived a life of faith that resulted in remarkable, uncommon service to the Lord Jesus - and there are many, many more that are worth mentioning.  There are precious, precious few men and women of the Bible whose lives lack significant moral failure of one kind or another.  

But one could read from Old Testament to New Testament, book to book, chapter to chapter and verse to verse and see precious few who lived a life as righteous and upstanding as Joseph.  Sinless?  Absolutely not. The Bible tells us that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Only one who walked the earth was without sin, and He is the one we place our trust in.

The story goes on.  Because his brothers hated him so much, because Joseph loved the Lord and was interested in serving the Lord, they threw him into the bottom of a pit and then sold him into slavery for twenty shekels of silver.  Surely they never could have imagined how things would evolve from there.  There's a long journey that unfolds that results in Pharoh's recognition that Joseph is a special, special man:  a prophet of God.  Before you know it, Joseph is elevated to a lofty position in the Egyptian government and his brothers appear before him, hungry, penniless and at his mercy.

Joseph could have repaid them with the cruelty and brutality that they had so mercilessly inflicted upon him.  And so many of us wouldn't have thought twice about doing that.  What did Joseph say, though?  "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)  What remarkable wisdom, patience and forgiveness Joseph demonstrates to us all.  God surely demonstrates through this picture that through it all, he was working all along - through their evil - to elevate Joseph to this lofty position to save the lives of many. 

What can we learn from this?  So much.  We must learn to repay the evil that others do to us with patience and love.  We must also remember with each moment that - according to Romans 8:28 - "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

God is working for GOOD in ALL things if you love him.  If you love him tonight, then you have been called according to his purpose.  Pray and seek his will for your life.  God bless you.