Psalms 105:17-22 (NASBStr)
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
They afflicted his feet with fetters,
He himself was laid in irons;
Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
The king sent and released him,
The ruler of peoples, and set him free.
He made him lord of his house
And ruler over all his possessions,
To imprison his princes at will,
That he might teach his elders wisdom.
Joseph is a great example to us of someone who was mistreated and unfairly dealt with in life and, yet, God used it all for His glory and Israel's blessing. When you see the entire story from beginning to end you can rejoice in what God did with Joseph and allowed to happen to him. However, like Job of old, Joseph didn't know the whole story while he was living it. He only knew part of it. He didn't know that God was not only "in" it, He was behind it. God used the evil jealousy and envy in the hearts of Joseph's brothers to get them to sell him to slave traders headed to Egypt. God used those greedy slave traders to get Joseph into Potipher's house. He used the sexual desires of Potifpher's wife to have Joseph falsely accused of rape and tossed into jail, just so Joseph would run into the kings chief baker and chief cupbearer. God used the dreams of the cupbearer and the Pharaoh, the King, to see Joseph promoted to the second most powerful man in the land. Here, a young man tied in ropes and chains for the better part of his young life was now powerful enough to imprison even Pharaoh's leaders at his will. Yet, he was a man of grace and man of mercy. When the wicked brothers showed up later, begging for food (due to a famine sent by God), Joseph had a chance to forgive and accept God's hand in his life. All the things that happened to Joseph were for a purpose greater than himself. The "word of The Lord tested him" the above passage states. He was in jail "until the time that his word came to pass" it adds. Joseph was a man of grace and a man of compassion because he came to know the God of compassion and grace behind his life's story. God had not abandoned him. God had used the very scars of his past to be the victory medal of his future. God does not leave us in a place He doesn't also have a complete and wonderful reason for it to happen. He wants to use each event in our lives to display His grace and His mercy in us and through us.
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