Promises

In the days of Joseph, God often spoke to people through dreams. The Bible says Joseph was 17 when God gave him a dream of his brothers sheaves of wheat bowing down to his sheaf. Joseph was already hated by his brothers because their dad, Jacob (or Israel), "loved Joseph more than any other of his sons". (Genesis 37:3) The telling of this dream made them hate Joseph enough to sell him as a slave and tell their dad he had been killed by a wild animal.

Fast forward 22 years and there is a very severe famine in Egypt that reaches up into Canaan where Joseph's family lives. The "boys" are sent to Egypt to buy food and therefore bow down before the governor, who happens to be their long lost, but unrecognized, brother. The Bible says, "And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them." (Genesis 42:9) Joseph understood that long ago dream to be a promise from God.

God makes us promises as well. They don't usually come in the form of dreams but through Jesus and the words He speaks to us through the Bible. We have the promise of salvation if we confess Jesus is Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead. (Romans 10:9) We have the promise of forgiveness of sins. (1 John 1:9) We have the promise of the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26) We have the promise of peace. (John 14:27) We have the promise of joy. (John 15:11) 

These are but a few of many promises of God. When times are hard or circumstances are confusing, we need to remember, as Joseph did, the promises of God. Because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) we can "take 'em to the bank". We can hold on to them, knowing that God will come through for us.

One of the hardest promises to grasp is Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." This is right in the middle of a section that speaks of the Spirit interceding for us and our being conformed to the image of Christ. We often can't take hold of this because we can't see beyond our difficult circumstances but we need to remember the promises!

Joseph was able to grasp God's promise when he saw his brothers and remembered the dream. Later he told his brothers, "And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God." (Genesis 45:7-8a)

We know that this was also part of God's plan long before Joseph. When God made His covenant with Abram He told him, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions." (Genesis 15:13-14) Joseph, and eventually the children of Israel, being in Egypt and the famine that brought them there were part of God's plan all along. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)