Far too often when we try and fix things we end up making things worse.
As Jacob and Rachel and the family flee from Laban they try and take matters into their own hands instead of trusting the promises of God. This leads to things getting worse and it is only the direct intervention of God that means there is a positive outcome.
We, like Jacob and Rachel, have the choice to trust God or take matters into our own hands. Far too often we choose to take matters into our own hands and this only makes things worse. But because for God’s direct intervention in sending Jesus, can we see that God is determined to keep His promises to us despite all of our attempts to do things on our own.
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is sent a dream from God. Basically, God saying “This is what the future holds, get ready!” How will Pharaoh respond? Will he listen and act?
We see Joseph reach a semi-climax in his story. The young boy who has suffered for 13 years has now grown into a man who fully relies on God. He trusts in God’s greatness. He trusts in God’s word. He trusts that God is with him. How will that play out as he is brought in front of the most powerful man in all of Egypt? Will he succumb to the pressures around him, or stand firm in the power of the covenantal God?
As we look at the story of Joseph we see a template for ourselves, a way that we can, and should, respond to God and His goodness. But there is more to Joseph. We also see the image of One who would bring salvation to all nations. One who would endure unjust suffering but then be raised to glory. We see Jesus!
In Genesis 40, the summary statement ‘after this’ (although this section really starts in Genesis 39:21), shows that the LORD’s presence remains. These are important to notice and remember because they raise our eyes from a basic morality tale to the plans and promises and commitment of the LORD to this broken world.
In this instance, it is in verse 8: ‘Don’t interpretations belong to God?’ Joseph has come to realise that, as he navigates life (and he has now been enslaved for eleven years!), the only interpretation that works, that makes sense, is that of the LORD committed to him. Isn’t this the truth we are encouraged to return to time and time again – just read of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38-42).
The repeated phrase in this chapter is the “the LORD was with Joseph”. While never coming into the story, the LORD is central to the Joseph narrative. In both feast and famine, the LORD is with Joseph. Even Potiphar could see the LORD’s hand on Joseph.
Our experience of life is often not too dissimilar to Joseph. We may not have been sold into slavery but our world is enslaved and under the yoke of sin. In the midst of living in a broken world, we might ask “where is God?” Genesis 39 reveals not a distant god but the LORD, our covenant-keeping God, who is ever present. That was Joseph’s reality and, even more so, our reality as we look to Jesus who is Immanuel, “God with us”, who has promised to be with is to the very end of the age.
