THE STORY OF JOSEPH

The first book of the Bible is Genesis and in Chapter 37 you can begin to read the story of Joseph. He was one of twelve sons and his Father’s name was Jacob. To show everyone that Joseph was special, his Father gave him a fabulous coat to wear. It had long sleeves and was made of fine material woven in all the colours of the rainbow.

All of Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him. In fact none of them had any kind words to say about him.

One night Joseph had a dream in which he dreamt that he would, one day be in charge of all his brothers. Joseph wondered about this dream for a long time. Perhaps God had chosen him to become a leader. One day Joseph went to see what his brothers were doing and when they saw him coming, they plotted to harm him. They grabbed hold of him, pulled the special coat off and threw him into a well.

A short time later some traders passed by on their camels and the brothers decided to sell Joseph as a slave. So they pulled him out of the well and sold him! They then dipped the coat of many colours in some blood to show their Father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.

The Father mourned for Joseph for a long time. In the meantime, the traders had sold Joseph as a slave to a man called Potipher who had a very important job as the captain of the guards in the King’s Palace. Joseph worked very hard at all he did and was soon trusted and put in charge of the whole house.
One day there was a big problem and Joseph was unfairly accused of doing something he did not do and was put in prison. But God knew Joseph’s heart and soon the prison guard began to trust Joseph and put him in charge of all the other prisoners.

During this time, Joseph was asked if he could explain the meaning of dreams two important men had because they could not understand them. One man was a steward and the other was the chief baker. Joseph asked God to help and was soon able to tell both men what their dreams meant.

• In the first one the King would give the steward his job back.
• The second one meant that the chief baker would soon die.
• Both dreams came true!

Two years later the King himself had a disturbing dream and asked if Joseph could tell him the meaning of it. Joseph asked God for guidance and then told the King that God was telling him to prepare for seven years of plenty food followed by seven years of terrible famine!

The King put Joseph in charge at once to make sure that Egypt did not starve.
God was with Joseph every day and showed him what to do. In fact, there was so much food that people came from miles around to stock up and this included his brothers, the very ones who had sold him into slavery.

They did not recognize Joseph and bowed down to him when asking for food. This story has a wonderful ending and you can read all about it if you turn to the Book of Genesis and read from Chapter 37 through to 45.

What we learn from this is that we are all able to help others, even if we don’t like them. We should share the wonderful blessings God has given us.
Jesus loves us and wants us to love others, and to share the good news of what He has done for us.

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to invite Him into your heart, ask Him to change you from the inside out!
There is nothing better than knowing that your sins are forgiven and that you will one day be with Jesus in Heaven.

Here is a prayer for you to use.

If you need help, contact me. I prayed this prayer many years ago when I invited Jesus into my life. You can do the same!