Joseph's Journey, Part 1

Joseph’s Journey, Part 1 (Spark, pp. 48-56)

First we stepped out with Abram, not knowing where he was going.  Then we helped his son, Isaac, find a wife and continue his journey.  Isaac has two sons—Esau and Jacob, and Jacob?  Jacob has TWELVE sons!  One of his sons, Joseph, had a very interesting journey indeed!  So interesting in fact, that we’re starting it today and finishing it next week!

One thing we see first, is that in bible times, the First born son was always the most important—to carry on families, to take care of their parents—but not so with God!  God knew that each was important and each person had a special role.  Joseph?  Joseph was the 11^th son of 12!  He wasn’t the “baby” or the youngest, but…his big brothers sort of saw him as a problem.  Dad seemed to love him best, and spend lots of time with him. They were sad and angry about all the attention Joseph got—after all, he wasn’t first born!  He wouldn’t take care of the family one day.

Worst of all?  Joseph had weird dreams, and he loved to tell his brothers about them.

Joseph: “Listen to this!  I dreamed we were all in the field tying stems of grain together.  Suddenly—and this is weird!—Your grain made a circle around mine, and then bent over.  You were bowing down to me!  Isn’t that exciting?”

Joseph’s brothers laughed.  “Our grain did what?  Why do you think we’d bow down to you like some king?”  His brothers were MAD.  Who did Joseph, the little punk, think he was? Joseph didn’t understand why they weren’t excited about the dream too.

The next night, Joseph had ANOTHER dream.  He, of course, ran to tell his brothers about it again.

Joseph: I had an even better dream last night!  I looked up into the sky and there I was!  I saw the sun, the moon, and the stars bow down to me.  Isn’t that amazing?”

This time?  His dad, Jacob, was listening—and even HE was angry!  “Why do you think your mother and I would stand next to your brothers and bow down to you, as if you were a king? I don’t like your strange dreams—and stop acting like they’ll come true!”

With everyone mad at Joseph, Jacob sent the brothers off to tend sheep for awhile, hoping they’d calm down. 

But then Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers and the sheep.

“Here comes Joseph, the dreamer!  Let’s get rid of him!” They GRABBED Joseph, and threw him into a pit (OUCH!) and tried to figure out what to do next. They waited and saw a group of traveling traders come by—and they SOLD Joseph, to get rid of him once and for all!  The tradesmen took Joseph away from his family—and into Egypt.  

Things…only got worse for Joseph.  You see, when he arrived in Egypt, he got in trouble.  Someone ELSE decided that they didn’t like him, and when Joseph didn’t do as she said, she lied about him and he was thrown in JAIL!

Joseph: “Why, God?  Why are these things happening?  How long will I be here? I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m in jail!  At least I know that YOU are with me!”

Months later, men who worked for the king were put in jail.  One morning, Joseph overheard them talking about strange dreams.  He asked them what was wrong, and they told him about their dreams.  God helped Joseph listen carefully, and then explain their dreams to them. The men never forgot Joseph’s help.

TWO YEARS LATER, Joseph was still in jail, but one of the men was back working for the king and when the king had a bad dream, guess who the servant told him to call?  That’s right—Joseph! 

And you’ll hear the REST of the story next week!

What did you learn?

Sometimes, bad or scary things happen even to people who love God.

Sometimes (often), even when we’re praying hard to understand things, we have to wait.  It’s not always clear.  Sometimes things are hard for a LONG time—think about Joseph!  He was in jail for over 2 years, waiting and praying, before he was given a chance to get out!  In the mean time, he was working for God’s purpose in the jail and telling others about dreams—something that he gotten him in trouble in the first place! But God is still part of Joseph’s story!  A BIG part—an important part—and Joseph has some pretty amazing and GOOD things happen to him in the next part of the story, but this part wasn’t easy, was it?  It’s kind of sad and scary.  You think God walks with you through the sad and scary parts, too?