LET us take Joseph’s life as an illustration, and see what the answer is to be.
As a laid of seventeen he had two dreams, evidently God-given to prepare him for an extraordinary future. The dreams foretold his future eminence when his brethren and even his father should bow down before him. (Gen. 37:1-111And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. 4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 5And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. (Genesis 37:1‑11).)
For this his brethren hated him; and plotted to take his life. If they had succeeded the dreams would not have come true. Therefore their plot was frustrated.
His elder brother Reuben comes to the rescue, intending to deliver him from the pit into which he was cast, and return him to his father. Now Joseph would naturally be delighted if he knew of Reuben’s design, but the intended kindness would have frustrated the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams, and therefore it failed.
Judah is kindly disposed up to a point, and proposes that Joseph be not slain, but sold to the Midianite merchants. This is carried out. For twenty pieces of silver the lad Joseph is sold as a slave.
Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. Might he not have said to himself, “Is this the way to the fulfillment of my dreams? Is God not mocking me? Has He not forsaken me? I may as well give up faith and hope.” It this not like many of us, when difficulties or disappointments cross our path?
Arriving in Egypt, Joseph is sold by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s guard, a man of high position. We read, “The Lord was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:22And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (Genesis 39:2)). He prospered. Very young though he was, he evidently had a sense of the favor of God. Remember what few privileges Joseph had, as compared with ourselves. No Scriptures, no knowledge as we have of Christ, of His work, of His compassion, tenderness, high-priestly grace. May not Joseph put many of us, all of us, to shame?
Prosperous and God blessing Potiphar’s house for his sake, yet Joseph is submitted to perhaps the hardest ordeal a young man can pass through. He refused the temptation; but falsely accused, he was flung into the goal where the king’s prisoners were bound.
Joseph might again have said, “This is a pretty way of having my dreams fulfilled. Not only sold into Egypt as a slave by his own brethren, but flung into prison for withstanding temptation and honoring God!”
Surely God was preparing Joseph in a very remarkable way by these very calamities. He stood the test, and was stronger spiritually each time. There is an old-fashioned meaning for the word “temptation” that is, it is something that tries us, and successfully met only improves and strengthens the character. You get the idea in “tempered” steel—steel made stronger and better in the process. So it was with Joseph.
It was not long before Joseph in prison became trusted and prosperous, just as he had been in Potiphar’s house. Little as he knew it and painful as were his experiences, which landed him in prison, he was in the very place that would forge the link that would bring about the realization of his dreams.
There were two fellow-prisoners with him, men who had been in close touch with the king, especially one of the two, the chief butler. He had fallen into disgrace somehow, and at length he had a dream (Gen. 40:5-155And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. 6And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 7And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 8And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. 9And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 12And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. (Genesis 40:5‑15)). Joseph interpreted this dream as foretelling that the chief butler would be speedily reinstated in the king’s favor, and be restored to his chief butlership.
In three days time, as Joseph foretold, the chief butler stepped out of prison a free man restored to the monarch’s favor and service, with the words from Joseph ringing in his ears, “Think of me when it is well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house” (Gen. 40:1414But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: (Genesis 40:14)).
Sad indeed and ungrateful was the conduct of the chief butler, where we read, “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him” (verse 23).
Two full years rolled by, and still Joseph lay in prison. It was a big test. It seemed as if he were forgotten, and might end his days there. He might have been tempted to say, “And is this the answer to my dreams? ―hated of my brethren sold as a slave, flung into prison, and the one chance of being mentioned to Pharaoh has died out.”
“And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed” (Gen. 41:11And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. (Genesis 41:1)). His dreams were the last strange links in the chain of divine purpose for the fulfillment of the dreams of that lad of seventeen some years before.
All the magicians and wise men of Egypt failing to interpret them, the chief butler’s memory revived and convicted him of his base ingratitude. He “spake unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day” (Gen. 41:99Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: (Genesis 41:9)), and he then told Pharaoh how Joseph had interpreted his dream to him when in prison. Joseph was sent for. Pharaoh rehearsed his dreams, and their significance was at once made plain. Pharaoh was so struck by Joseph’s wisdom and deportment, that he appointed him second ruler in the land, put his signet ring upon Joseph’s hand, arrayed him in fine linen, put a chain of gold about his neck, made him ride in the second chariot that he had. The people cried out before Joseph, “Bow the knee!”
What a test for the young man, for young he was. One moment languishing indefinitely in prison; the next, second only to Pharaoh in the land, the people bowing before him on every, hand, a truly dazzling position.
Seven years of plenty went by. Joseph was the super-organizer of the corn of Egypt, storing it against the days of famine. The famine came, gripping Egypt and the adjacent countries in its terrible strangle-hold.
Away in distant Caanan Joseph’s father and brethren were in distress and famine-stricken. We all know the beautiful story, how the brethren came to Egypt, not knowing Joseph, probably thinking he was dead, how Joseph supplied their needs in a way to awaken their consciences as to their sin towards himself. When their consciences were reached, Joseph disclosed who he was, forgave them, sent for his father, and settled them in the land of Goshen.
We read, whilst Joseph was dealing with his brethren before he made himself known to them, “And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground” (Gen. 44:1414And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. (Genesis 44:14)). Thus was Joseph’s dream fulfilled.
What a life was Joseph’s to look over. The links in the chain of God’s purpose were remarkable. The steel was tempered by the long years of reverses, fitting him for the wonderful place God called him to.
Should not we as saints of God more definitely commit our ways to Him? The husband comes home. He has lost his employment. The situation is dark. Husband and wife are struck dumb. Happy if they put their affairs in God’s hands. It may be a few years go by. We call on the couple. They live in a different part of the country. They say, “What we thought was a crushing blow that tempted us to think that God was harsh, has turned out to our material and spiritual blessing. We can see God’s hand in it all now in a wonderful way.”
Take this single simple illustration and apply it in a hundred different settings. It will work.
How true it is that God orders our lives, if we will only trust Him step by step.
A. J. Pollock.