All of us can testify to the fact that there are good days and not so good days. Joseph, for awhile, had such an experience of life’s merry-go-round that would break the strongest of souls. Still, through it all he was faithful. God blessed Joseph’s faithfulness more than he could imagine. His blessings were so bountiful that he name his first child Manasseh, which would remind him that God had caused him to forget his previous troubles. His second child was called Ephraim to help him remember him that God had made him fruitful in a troubled land.
Read Genesis 39:1-41:57
There is one major theme that sticks out to me in these three chapters of Genesis, God is with Joseph, and everyone around him knows. We see this in several places (39:2-3, 21-23; 41:38-39). Scripture teaches us elsewhere, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). Most people know the last part of the verse in Hebrews. However, I choose to include the whole verse. Why? It is one thing to say we have faith and it is another thing to live faithfully. We may say that we believe in God and His Word, but we don’t live like.
The writer of Hebrews gives a little commentary on Joseph’s faith and how it impacted the way he lived. Hebrews 11:22 reads, “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” Joseph prophesied that the nation of Israel would eventually leave captivity in Egypt (some 400 years later). He wanted them to take his bones back to the promised land. He believed God would make it happen and he lived like it was a future reality. We do not need to fear the future because God is already there. We are to live faithfully to God in the present.
Jeremy Kamer Ministries 