Joseph
“This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.”
Genesis 37:2
Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing Joseph and his relationship with God and his family. We hope that you invite others to join our weekly devotionals. Share this with your friends, family, and yes-even strangers!
The story of Joseph starts in Genesis chapter 37. A quick overview of Joseph said his brothers sold him into slavery. Work diligently to be the leader of Potiphar’s household, wrongfully imprisoned for doing what was right. Became a leader within the prison, interpreted multiple dreams, was forgotten about for several years, then had to share extremely hard news with a pharaoh of Egypt. In the end, Joseph was second to Pharaoh over all the land he governed.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Can you imagine being given dreams or visions from God at the age of 17? Now put yourself in the brothers and parents’ shoes. Can you imagine your son or daughter or your little brother coming to you saying they’ve had a dream where everybody in the family bows down to them?
Having a teenager in our house, I know but it takes them a lot of courage to talk about private “stuff” and yes, dreams are private.
Second off there might have been some slight gloating from Joseph as he talked to him about his dream. Many teenagers ok most of them; have just a little bit of “Cockiness” when they talk.
Joseph’s brothers didn’t like it for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons why was because they felt their father loved him more. They also didn’t like him because he came back and told his dad the truth about what they’ve been doing.
When Jacob sent his son Joseph out to check on his brothers in the field and to see if they needed any help to see how they were doing. They see him coming from a distance talked about killing him. However, one of his brothers stepped up and said don’t kill him, let’s just thrown in a cistern.
His brother had planned to come back and rescue Joseph. Before he could come back, his other brothers sold him into slavery for what equates out in today’s currency to be less than $140.
Take a second and think about a 17-year-old boy pleading with his brother’s not to be sold. Never knowing where he might end up what might happen to him. Then having to walk to Egypt without truly knowing where you are going.
At my age today, just the thought of that happening to me or one of my children scares me to death.
The Bible never says that Joseph wasn’t scared. What we know is that Joseph had to trust God. He had to know beyond any doubt that God was going to take care of him.
Prayer
God today we come to you almost with an aching heart for Joseph. God we know but all these things had to happen to Joseph so you could be glorified through them. I’ll be honest to God; I’m scared and excited about how you might use us to glorify your name. Lord I would like to ask that you give us the courage of Joseph. The courage to trust that you are in control in that you have the right plan for our lives. Lord God, we know you see so much more than we can ever imagine and it’s you understand every. We are thankful you have chosen us to serve you. Help us learn how to serve you better.
Amen
Will you pray with us?
Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel
For all military personal serving our country and their families
Those in Leadership positions throughout the world
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts. We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us. We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us. And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.
We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name
Amen
A Little More
The other day I got a call from one of our clients.
I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.
“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”
My smile immediately vanished.
I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.
So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?”
To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.
They gave me the details.
My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.
But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.
My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.
I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.
so……
I made sure not to smile when I made the call. I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!
That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.
Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!
Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal. I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.
The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.
No problem. Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.
Well……..
After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.
Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that I would NOT make any promises.
But my team went to work!
Guess what????
We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.
My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.
Here’s the point of all this.
When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.
That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.
Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol
Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!
Dan Greer
