Heavens Hero Joseph Series

Heaven’s Hero, Joseph

If your doctor told you that you only had a few days left on this earth, what would you reaction be ?

If the revelation of death’s immanence causes you change the way you are living at present, I would suggest that you change the ways of your life now rather than later. Death’s timing and method of overcoming our lives is uncertain but one thing about death is that is certain, it is an inevitable fact of life that everyone will face die.

The immanence of death often causes people to look back on the past with nostalgia remembering the pleasant moments of their lives or death immanence may cause people to look back with regret examining the moments when they got it wrong.

JOSEPH’S CONTINUAL FOCUS ON GOD

When Joseph’s new born grand children were placed on his knees he said "I am about to die" {Gen 50:22-26}. Joseph’s last word were not filled with regrets, there was no nostalgic memories, his words even unto death revealed his continual trust, dependence and confidence in his God to bring to pass what He had promised.

Joseph by faith declared the promise that had been made to his great grandfather Abraham and his grandfather Isaac and to his father Jacob that "God will surly come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised" {Gen 13:14-17}.

Almost three hundred years had past since God first spoke to Abraham and there was still no fulfilment of His promise, Joseph was looking death in the face and there was still no fulfilment of God’s promise, yet Joseph continued to look forward to the promised land that God had in store for his descendants.

When we fail to receive an answer to our prayer or when we don’t see an break through in our work for God we can do one of three things, we can resign our lives to mediocrity, we can turn to another source in search of fulfilment or we can passionately persist in believing God to be a promise keeping God.

Jesus told the story of the persistent widow who would not give up because of refusal, she kept going back and back until she gained a break through {Lk 18:1-8}. If we want a break through or an answer to an unanswered prayer God calls us to persevere, to press on, to continue to believe in God {1Cor 16:13}. Faith does not accept mediocrity, faith continually focuses on God {Heb 11:1}.

Joseph was confident that God would keep His Word, he said "surly" Joseph did not know how or when but he did know that God would keep His promise.

In His great wisdom God keeps his methods and His timing for answering our prayers and the fulfilling of His promises hidden from His people {Prov 25:2, LK 10:21, Eph 3:9}.

God does not reveal His timing in advance, because He knows our focus would be on that day and not on Him, we would be looking for the blessing of answered prayer and not to the giver of blessings. Jesus rebuked those who were seeking signs and wonders, because they wanted the blessings without the God behind the blessings {Jh 4:48, Mk 8:12}. God’s Word calls us to fix our focus on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith {Heb 12:2, Phil 3:12-14}.

JOSEPH’S CONTINUAL TRUST IN GOD

Even in death Joseph continued to be confident in His God to fulfil His Word. Joseph revealed his continual trust in God by giving instructions about what should happen to his bones when God fulfils His promise.

A person’s dying wish or instructions on a Will can often sum up or reveal the desires of a person’s heart or reveal their regrets of gratuities.

Joseph’s dying instructions revealed the desire of his heart, Joseph had been in Egypt for around 90 years and there was one overriding burning desire in his heart and that was to be a part of the fulfilment of God’s promise.

Even in death Joseph’s faith refused to resign to mediocrity. Joseph knew that God would fulfil His promise so therefore his body did not have to rest in the land of disobedience but could be carried to rest in God’s promised land.

Joseph’s bones were a reminder to the people of God that a day was coming when their slavery would come to an end. The people of God today do not have bones to look to, we have an empty cross and empty tomb to remind us that Christ is coming again to carry us to our heavenly home. Joseph had an Egyptian wife, job, and home but as the saying goes "home is where the heart is" Joseph’s heart was never at home in Egypt. In his heart Joseph was an alien and stranger in a foreign land for in his heart he was looking for his heavenly home God’s promised land {Heb 11:13-16}.