God’s Character Through the Story of Joseph

You thought I was done with God’s character? Absolutely not! There’s so much about God’s character I feel I haven’t even scratched the surface. For this week’s and next week’s blog, I wanted to focus on God’s character through the story of Joseph. So, let’s not waste any time, let’s dive right in!

The Story of Joseph

Joseph’s father, Jacob, had two wives, Leah and Rachel but Jacob only truly loved Rachel, and Joseph was the only child he had with her. So, because of this, Jacob favored Joseph above all of his brothers, which made the brothers jealous of Joseph. Jacob had made Joseph a coat of many colors and always openly expressed his great love for Joseph; he did not do that for his other sons. As you can see this can create some animosity between Joseph and his brothers, and it did. Besides this favoritism, Joseph was just special overall. God gave him the gift of interpreting dreams and Joseph was a dreamer. However, Joseph made the mistake of telling his brothers about one of his dreams. In this dream, Joseph was ruling over them all, as he had a vision of them bowing down to him; this infuriated his brothers. First, he is the favorite and now he is destined to rule over them as well? Do you see where this is going? A hatred started to build within the brothers towards Joseph. But Joseph was so innocent, he just wanted to share his dreams with his brothers, not out of spite, but out of excitement, but the brothers didn’t take it this way. So, quick lesson, even if you are excited about something that God showed you, be careful about who you tell. Everything is not meant to be shared and Joseph could’ve saved himself some trouble if he had kept his dreams to himself. Not everyone is going to support your dreams so ask God for guidance on who you allow knowing your dreams.

Moving along, one day Joseph goes to look for his brothers while they were working, but before he arrived, his brothers were plotting to kill him. However, Genesis 37:21 says that “But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands and said ‘let us not kill him”. Reuben wanted to just throw him in a pit and leave him there, and while keeping the other brothers oblivious, go back and get Joseph out of the pit. This shows God’s mercy towards Joseph because as God’s children, He is not going to allow certain things to happen to us. If Joseph was any other person and not someone who was special in God’s eyes then maybe he would’ve been killed but since God was with Joseph, He protected him from all harm. God is a protective and merciful God and that’s why we can trust in Him and in His plan for our lives. We know that no matter the situation, even if it is life or death, God is going to protect us and show us His mercy as He did Joseph. Aspects of God’s character may not always be direct, as the verse doesn’t say “God said ‘let’s not kill him”, but rather Reuben said. So, God will put people in your life that show you aspects of His character. God showed mercy through Reuben, and it was because of Reuben that Joseph was spared. So trust that no matter the circumstances, God is always going to have the right people involved in your situation. This just shows how intentional God is, God knew He had bigger plans for Joseph so He knew He needed someone who was going to look out for him, and in this case, it was Reuben.

Now, Reuben did plan on returning to get Joseph, but before he got the chance, the other brothers sold him to Ishmaelites into slavery. Once Joseph was sold into slavery, he worked for a man named Potiphar, a wealthy man in Eygpt. Joseph did exceptionally well while working for Potiphar and Potiphar “saw that the Lord was with [Joseph] and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand” (Genesis 39:3). This alone makes just smile and think, “God is so great” because, despite an unfortunate situation of being sold into slavery, God still made Joseph prosper. God is faithful to His promises to us; He told Abraham, Joseph’s great-great-grandfather that he would prosper him and make him great, and He kept that promise through continually prospering Joseph. Additionally, Genesis 39:5 says that “the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake”. So, just know that you can be the reason that someone is blessed, just because you have a relationship with God. God’s faithfulness extends beyond just you, so it is very beneficial to you and to the people around you, that you maintain a relationship with God. Through a relationship with God, you experience His great favor in all situations! God is a favorable God towards His children and He will never take away His favor no matter what. It is in God’s plan for us to prosper as it says in Jeremiah 29:11, “for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope”. So, trust in Him through your faith journey, no matter how low the valley, God’s favor, faithfulness, and mercy are still with you!

Now, I think this is the most important thing to note through the story of Joseph, God was only so good to him because of how much Joseph honored Him. A lot of people expect the goodness of God without being good to God in the first place. They still sin like there’s no tomorrow, disrespect the Word and God, worship other gods, and expect God to show them favor and mercy. However, that is not the case, Hebrews 11:6 says that God is “a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” and all through the Bible, it says how the righteous are rewarded. Therefore, it is important that Joseph was a righteous man and know that is why God was so good to him. And in general with God’s character, God only has positive characteristics when it comes to the righteous. I promise you, you never want to know what God’s character is when you’re deemed wicked.

As Joseph worked for Potipher, his wife noticed how Joseph “was handsome in form and appearance” (Genesis 40:6). So, she would at any chance she could get, would try to convince Joseph to sleep with her. Joseph constantly refused and one day he said to her in Genesis 40:9, “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has [Potiphar] kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Joseph couldn’t bring himself to sin because he was aware of how blessed he was and that it all came from God. He knew that he was blessed because of how he carried himself and he couldn’t fathom the idea of offending the One who has kept him through all the tribulations. Joseph honored God in his everyday life and through his work for Potiphar and he wasn’t going to allow one lustful sin to ruin it all. We have to realize that we owe God everything, as Joseph did, and all God wants from us is to live a righteous life. He gave us his only Son, saved us from sin, and from eternal death, and He only asks us of one thing. On top of that, He gives us a choice! Joseph could’ve sinned if he wanted to but he remembered how good God has been and couldn’t bring himself to do it.

God is so good to us, so good that sometimes people forget and still believe they can live however they please. However, that isn’t the case, if we fall into a life of sin, we risk losing everything God has given us. Do you think if Joseph sinned that God would’ve still prospered him? The answer is no. So, yes God has all of these wonderful characteristics but it is dependent on how you act. Through your faith journey, you must be mindful of how you treat people, and how you’re living, and determine if you’re living in sin or in righteousness because that can make or break your relationship with God.

Next week, I’ll talk about the second half of Joseph’s story but I hope this was helpful! Remember, God is protective and merciful over His children and will shield you from all harm and danger. He is faithful to keep His promises to us in every situation, so He is going to look to prosper us in every life circumstance. There is no going backward with God, only forward! And lastly, as God is good to us, so we have to also be good to Him by living righteously so we can experience all of these wonderful characteristics of God! Take this post as food for thought on how you view your own faith journey and the role you play in it! Be blessed!