The Apostle Paul teaches us that the things which happened in the Old Testament, to Israel, were for our instruction. Sometimes, it is difficult for us to wait on God to give us answers to our prayers. We live in a microwave society, expecting answers within a few minutes; but God has His own times of visitation, that do not always agree with our expectations.
Romans 15:4, “Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
I Corinthians 10:11, “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”
There is also a scripture in the Book of Acts of the Apostles, which speaks about the ‘Time of the Promise drawing nigh’.
Acts 7:17, “But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,”
This scripture is speaking about Joseph in Egypt, because this is when the children of Israel began to multiply into great numbers. So let’s look at the life of Joseph a little and see what we can learn from his example.
Joseph was the next to youngest son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, who God called out of the land of Ur of Chaldees, for the purpose of establishing the Nation of Israel.
Joseph was favored by his father, Jacob, and given a coat of many colors. This created great jealousy and resentment among his brothers. They plotted their revenge.
To make matters worse, Joseph is given two dreams by God. The first dream showed the bundles of sheaves of his brothers bowing down to his bundle of sheaves; and the second dream showed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed before him. Jacob rebuked him for this, but pondered it in his heart.
Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers in the fields; and when they saw him coming with his multicolored coat, it was too much for them. They grabbed him and threw him in a well, then argued about whether they should kill him or not.
About this time, a band of Midianites comes along, on their way to Egypt. Judah, one of his brothers, who was trying to keep him alive for his father’s sake, suggested they sell him as a slave. They would dip his coat in blood and tell their father that a wild animal had killed him.
Joseph was sold to Potiphar, the prison warden, who takes a liking to Joseph and makes him ruler over his personal household. God has given him favor and things are going well.
Then Potiphar’s wife accuses Joseph of attempted rape and Potiphar throws Joseph in his prison.
God gives favor to Joseph in prison and he is soon managing the prison as head jailer.
While in prison, Joseph interprets a dream for Pharaoh’s butler, and another dream for Pharaoh’s cup-bearer. Both come true. The butler is restored to Pharaoh’s palace and the cup bearer is executed. The butler promises to remember Joseph to Pharaoh, but forgets.
Then Pharaoh has a dream, and the butler finally remembers Joseph can interpret dreams. Joseph is called for and interprets Pharaoh’s dream and is made ruler of Egypt, next to Pharaoh himself.
Joseph manages the land successfully during the seven years of plenty and is able to feed all of Egypt and its neighbors for the two years of famine.
Jacob is suffering from the famine and sends some of his sons to Egypt to buy food, and guess who they run into in Egypt? Joseph, their brother! Guess what they had to do to honor Joseph’s position as ruler of the land of Egypt? They bowed down before him, giving him honor, not knowing that Joseph is their brother; because he had disguised himself before them. One dream fulfilled.
Then, after a few scenarios, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and sends them home to bring his family to Egypt to care for them. Now his whole family is honoring him because of his position in Egypt. Second dream fulfilled.
Think about the timeline of Joseph’s life:
Joseph is 17 when he was sold into slavery.
Joseph rules over Potiphar’s house for close to 7 years.
Joseph is in prison close to 3 years.
Joseph is 30 years old when is made ruler over Egypt.
Joseph is 40 or so when he reunited with his father.
Joseph is 110 years when he dies in Egypt with a promise from his brothers to bury him at home.
He had his dreams from his God when he was a young man in his teens. One dream is not fulfilled until 13 years later, when he was 30 years of age. The second dream was not fulfilled until 23 years later, when he was around 40 years of age, when he reunited with his father and the whole family was in Egypt under his care.
The ‘Time of the Promise’ took 13 years for one dream to be fulfilled, and another 10 years for the other dream to be fulfilled!
What have we learned?
1- They that walk with God as His sons and daughters will not always walk smooth paths; sometimes those paths are covered with difficult obstacles that must be overcome. Joseph was favored by God, but he still had to suffer many different, difficult and unpleasant things, almost losing his life twice!
Philippians 1:9, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”
Matthew 24:13, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
2- When God promises something, He doesn’t always provide the fulfillment to that promise immediately. He has a ‘Time’ when that promise will be fulfilled and expects us to wait on Him in thanksgiving and expectancy.
Hebrews 11:8-12, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he was good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”
3- An attitude of humility and forgiveness is expected by God. Joseph forgave his brothers after they learned to humble themselves and acknowledge that God had given him his dreams.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)
So, I encourage you to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. God is listening and in His Time, He will draw near, providing the fulfillment of our dreams that agree with His will for our lives.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”