Before we had Parker, Chris and I used to do our devotional time together every night before bed. We were being so great at it for awhile and we were having so much fun learning and growing towards God together... and as the time started ticking away towards our moving date and Parker's due date our Quiet Times took a downturn. Chris was lucky if he even got a "Goodnight" out of me between the time that I laid my head down on my pillow and the time I was fast asleep. I know this should be no excuse - after all - God had completely and totally blessed us with a new home and a precious baby - and we wouldn't take the time during the day or evenings to spend with God and thank Him by taking the initiative to read His word and grow closer. Thank goodness He is a forgiving Father :)
So anyway - this past weekend, we went to First Redeemer Church in Cumming and Pastor Lee preached on a part of the story of Joseph in Genesis. We had both heard this story a million times growing up and thought we had pretty much heard it all... but this week as we started our devotion time up again, we decided to dig deeper in Joseph's story and read the entire thing and I have to say - it has been one of the most entertaining stories I have read in awhile. Seriously - this story has more drama than a daytime soap opera! Here is the run down:
- When Joseph was a teenager, he had these dreams about being a ruler over his family and he told these crazy dreams to his brothers.
- Joseph was also his dad's fave son and his dad gave him this awesome colored robe.
- Joseph's brothers were jealous and and they plotted to kill him to ensure that nothing would become of his dreams.
- As they were plotting to kill him, some people on their way to Egypt came up to them and his brothers decided to just sell him to these people instead of killing him. So nice of them.
- So after they sold him, they realized, Oh my goodness - what are we going to tell our father about Joesph! Lightbulb goes off and they decide to take his beautiful robe his father had given Joseph and dip it in goat's blood and bring it to their father to proove that Joseph had been killed by a ferocious animal!
- Meanwhile, Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potipher, an official of the Pharaoh.
- Joseph's new master, Potipher, saw that Joseph was a Godly man and that only good came from him so he made Joseph the head of his household.
- Now, supposedly, Joseph was a total hotty! So one day when Potipher was gone, Potipher's wife, who was also a total hotty, tried to entice Joseph to go do the nitty gritty with her - yup - that's right - the Bible talks about doing it!
- Joseph, being a Godly man, said 'Heck no! - You are nuts woman!"
- So another day - Potiphar's wife came back to him and wanted him so bad, she grabbed his coat and said COME TO BED WITH ME! Joseph was like "this lady is NUTS!" so he slid out of his cloak and ran away from her - and left his cloak in her hands.
- Well P's wife wasn't to happy about this obviously. So she ran to her husband, Potiphar, and told him that Joseph tried to rape her so Potiphar threw Joseph in jail.
- So - Joseph went to jail - but won favor with the warden there because the warden saw he was a man of God and only good came from him.
- So - a side note - the pharaoh had a baker and a cupbearer. The baker made his food and the cupbearer tasted all the food before he ate it to make sure it wasn't poisoned... wouldn't that be a fun job!
- So the the cupbearer and the baker got on the pharaoh's nerves one day so he sent them to jail. Joseph saw they looked sad one day and was like "What's up guys?"
- They told him they had had these crazy dreams and asked Joseph to interpret them. He did and one of the guys dreams said he was going to be welcomed back into the Pharaoh's home in a few days. The other guy's dream meant that he was going to be hung and killed in a few days. Joseph asked these men to remember him when they got back to the Pharoah's palace in a few days when their interpreted dreams did in fact happen. Well, the dreams did happen as Joseph said they would - and the one guy was hanged and the other guy was welcomed back to the palace - but guess what - he totally forgot about Joseph. Oh well!
So - I am going to stop here - but what happens to Joseph? What happens to his brothers back at home? Do Joseph's dreams really come true? How in the world does he become a king when he is in jail? Tune in next week for "As the Bible Turns" or "All My Egyptian Children" OR just go to Genesis 37 and find out! Have fun!
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