Many of us are very familiar with the story of Joseph in the Bible. His story can be found in Genesis 37-50. Very briefly, Joseph was his father’s favourite son from his favourite wife. He was hated by his brothers, had crazy dreams that said he would rule over his family. The brothers had had enough of Joseph and his dreams and planned to kill him so they threw him into a pit. They then sold him to the Midianites who took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave. Rough transition, from favourite child to unknown slave! Egypt wasn’t exactly nice to him either. A young man of integrity was thrown into prison for something he did not do. He interpreted dreams in prison, the person he thought was his way out, forgot about him until an appointed time when Pharoah needed a dream interpreted. That interpretation took him from a physical dungeon/pit to a physical palace. Cue the church music and the pentecostal/baptist hand clapping, feet stomping, shout a glory and a hallelujah music.
But do we miss the point? Yay Joseph! You are free and you are ruler over all of Egypt! Wait! What? Yes! You gave the interpretation Joseph and so we don’t see anyone else with the wisdom to make these decisions. We often rejoice with people when they are delivered as we should. However, you are delivered to work! You don’t get to wear the title of delivered to sit and be cute!
This hit me hard this morning. Almost knocked the Rûaħ/ruach of God out of me! If you know my story, you know I have been through a lot! Some elements of it are too close to the story of Joseph. Uncomfortably close! Can I tell you though that the pit is training for the palace? Joseph as a slave made his master’s house prosperous! God gave Him favour even in the pit. The skills he learned in the pit and in the prison were skills he would need in the palace. I mean think of it, one wrong decision and all of Egypt (and by extension the rest of the world) would have “starved to death”. The delays he encountered while in the pit and the prison were delays in the natural but was right on time in the spiritual. You see, God being Omniscient knew the famine was coming at a certain time. Favourite son Joseph pre pit and prison could not have ruled Egypt. He would not even have been in Egypt! God also knew how much training Joseph would need. Could God have done it another way? Absolutely! Why did He do it that way? We might never know! However He chose that way to train Joseph.
So, back to the palace. That shout moment! That moment that we all look for when we are in our spiritual pits and prisons. We live for the palace moment to say yes I have been set free. I am whole! To testify how God gave us a testimony from the test! Glory Hallelujah but in the palace Joseph was second in command only to Pharoah. Terrifying! Absolutely terrifying!
I have recently begun to walk in emotional wholeness and man, I am tired! Why? Opportunities keep coming! Opportunities to encourage in private and in public. More ministry appointments in church. More proddings from God that I cannot resist because I promised I would stop running. Like Joseph, I am called to rule, not from behind the scenes but up front. I can no longer run away from the call of God on my life, especially not now that I am “in the palace”. That is how this blog came to be! So, yes when we think of ruling, we think of kings and queens, of prime ministers, premiers and presidents. But every believer is a ruler!
Read it again, we all are rulers here on earth! Not in the traditional sense of ruling but we rule nonetheless. So, think about your pit. Think about what you learned in your prison. Think about what characteristics of God came to the fore. Think about how you came out. Think about the opportunities that are now presenting. Think about the skills that you can use now. Think about your role in the palace.
What is the work that you have been called to do?
GMW