Joseph – From Slave To Prime Minister

Most Christians are familiar with the story of Joseph that we read about in the book of Genesis. At age seventeen, after Joseph shared two dreams portraying that he would rule over his siblings and even his parents, his jealous brothers decided to sell him into slavery.

Shortly thereafter Joseph found his way to Egypt where he became a servant in Potiphar’s house. If being a slave was not bad enough, Joseph was then falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife, and thrown into prison. In prison Joseph interprets the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s servants, who found their way there because they displeased the king. After the cupbearer to Pharaoh had a favorable interpretation and was released, Joseph remained in prison two more years. Then Pharaoh had two dreams, and because of Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams, was summoned by the king and his interpretations pleased the king so much that he made Joseph, now age thirty, his prime minster.

You might say what a circuitous route Joseph took going from slave to second in command in Egypt – and you would be absolutely correct. As we study the story of Joseph I would like to highlight three lessons (among many) we can learn from.

Integrity finds favor with God

Throughout Joseph’s time in slavery and prison he maintained his purity and integrity and as a result, despite his negative circumstances, three times we read in (Genesis 39) that the Lord was with him. (Genesis 39:2, 21, 23). When Potiphar’s wife asked Joseph to have sex with her, he maintained his purity when he proclaimed: “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). And, I believe, it is because of Joseph’s integrity and love of God that no matter how dire the circumstances looked, God always found a way to bless and use him. Unfortunately, in the short term, it may seem like God isn’t blessing you, but in the long run we will accrue many blessings if we only hang on. For remember God always has your back!

Difficulties will follow our dreams

All of us have dreams for a bright future but the reality is that sometimes we wonder why it seems like it takes so long for them to come true. And just like Joseph our dreams will often be on a collision course with difficulty. Through our dreams, for our future and family, God will often bring trials our way, not to defeat the fulfilment of our desires, but to teach us lessons that we could not learn in any other way. God wants to teach us patience, perseverance, and the need to be dependent on Him for everything in life. Joseph learned through his trials to trust God in everything and we must do likewise. In the end God will make a way and fulfill the desires of our hearts if we stay connected and rooted in Jesus. The road we need to travel on, like Joseph, however, may not be what we had in mind.

The importance of forgiveness

One final lesson, I would like to touch upon, is how forgiveness was a key in keeping Joseph grounded in the Lord. I believe that Joseph prospered in every situation he found himself in because he practiced forgiveness to all those who hurt him. While we don’t necessarily see this quality on outward display in his life, at the end of the book of Genesis we see that for all the harm that his brothers did to him, he was still able to forgive them because of his relationship with God and his understanding that God can use even evil for good. We see this displayed wonderfully when Joseph’s brothers asked for forgiveness for the evil they did to him. For we read: “Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” (Genesis 50:19-21).

So, we see that Joseph found favor with God because of his integrity. He went through major trials because God wanted to teach him valuable lessons. And he practiced forgiveness demonstrating his love of God and his love of others. There is much we can learn from reading Joseph’s story. And, as you might have guessed, it’s one of my favorites in the entire Bible. I encourage you to read all about him in (Genesis 37 – 50) to discover other lessons we can learn from this great man of God.