“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

Acts chapter 7 is chalked full of history and stories of extremely important biblical characters. One in particular that caught my eye is Joseph. Joseph had an extremely difficult life but some how managed to maintain a very strong faith. His brothers sold Joseph into Egypt. He was rejected but then raised to power. Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt but did not recognize him. Time and time again Joseph was thrown into very difficult situations. Instead of failing or giving up Joseph always persevered to make the best of every situation. Even while Joseph was in jail he gained favor and had responsibilities over all the other prisoners. The verse that sticks out the most to me is, But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.

I have the ultimate redeemer/rescuer to rely on and so many times I decide to do it my way and figure it out on my own terms. God is not a crutch that I lean on when I’m hurting or in trouble. God is omnipresent and I need to let him be involved in all decisions in my life. Joseph went through many ups and downs in his life from being a prisoner to a King. Our life is not different. Every season can bring different circumstances whether good or bad and God needs to be involved.

Father God I pray that I will not lean on you just when I need you but that you will constantly be holding me up. Father I want to live my life like Joseph and praise you when times are good and be able to seek wisdom and guidance when things are rough. Lord you are the King of Kings and I thank you for wanting to rescue me from all my troubles.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 6:36 am and is filed under Daily Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.