Focus: Divine Promotion

Text: Gen.42:6

"And Joseph was the governor over the land…"

God's story is always a comedy; it always ends well, regardless of the twists and turns along the way.

Joseph was sold to slavery by his own brothers, and those who bought him also sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, a high ranking official in Pharoah's government. The psalmist says, "He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant" (Ps.105:17). God sent Joseph ahead of his family. That's the story. 

God is behind the scenes directing and processing our stories. God was there when his brothers beat him up and sold him as a slave. God was there when those who bought him resold him to the highest bidder, who happened to be Potiphar. 

God takes a rejected stone and makes it the chief corner stone of his house.

Our text says that Joseph eventually became the governor of Egypt. His brothers said to their father, "Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt…" (Gen.45:26). The psalmist declares that Pharaoh "made him LORD of his house, and RULER of all his substance" (Ps.105:21). It can only be God. He is the number one storyteller in the universe. He guides and controls history.

His brothers sold him as a slave, and God took him as a slave and transformed him into a sovereign. From nothing Joseph became something. He governed the whole land of Egypt, a land in which he was a stranger. What a God! He turned Joseph's story around and transformed it from tragedy to comedy.

The psalmist declares about God, "For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations" (Ps.22:28). God who is the governor of the nations of the world decided to make Joseph the governor of all the land of Egypt. Joseph must have said at that time like Paul, "I am what I am by the grace of God!" Grace stepped in and the story of Joseph ended so well. He moved from the prison to the palace and from being a slave to becoming a sovereign.

Child of God, your faith will see you through. Your story will end well. God will turn your mourning into dancing, your lamentation into celebration, and your troubles into trophies.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter