Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...30

I made reference to Joseph a few blogs ago. In many ways his 40 years in Egypt bring additional meaning to the 40 days and nights of Jesus in the wilderness. Let's unpack the parallels.

First, God declared, through a series of dreams, who He knew Joseph to be. He would lead and his older brothers would follow. They would bow down to him. Even his parents would acknowlege his supremacy. God the Father declared, at the Jordan, who He knew Jesus to be. These declarations came before the practical proof but must have been in both their minds as they faced trials.

Second, adding up the date references in Genesis 37-50 we find Joseph lived in Egypt 39-40 years in slavery, prison and in preparation for the famine that eventually reunites him with his family. These were mostly years of extreme hardship. His slavery immersed him in a strange culture and language. He faced temptation to despair and toward sexual immorality. Hardship came to him due to sibling rivalry, betrayal, sexual harassment, false accusations, being forgotten and human cruelty. Jesus' suffering in the forty-day wilderness have been discussed exhaustively in this series.

Third, Joseph's slavery began when his brothers exchanged his freedom for 20 shekels of silver. Flags should go up as the whole story of reconciliation with his family involves silver. His brothers bring silver to buy grain. Perhaps the same silver once traded for Joseph's life. Joseph in turn refuses to accept the silver, replacing it in their grain sacks twice. How this should have stirred their consciences. The silver, blood money, was not used. Jesus, we know, was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver -- silver that Judas did not use and later used by the priests to buy a paupers' graveyard.

Forth, Joseph fathered two sons while in Egypt. Manessah, the older, and Ephraim the younger both recieved blessing and adoption from Jacob as sons. While in the ceremony, though, Jacob reverses the order by blessing Ephraim first. Ephraim means "twice fruitful" and Joseph choose this name because "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." God emphasized the fruitfulness of suffering in this act. Jesus, also, found His wilderness time fruitful as He would next call key followers to His service. Suffering can produce good things and good impacts.

Joseph did the heavy lifting in his suffering that would provide easy access to life-sustaining food for his family. His path to leadership created relationships with persons of power that released homes and lands in which they could live. They all received the dividends of Joseph's investment of time, trial and tenacity. Their once discarded brother became their desperately needed benefactor. Jesus did the heavy lifting for us on the cross and in the tomb. His relationship to the Father released the power of the Holy Spirit into our living. We receive from Him blessing upon blessing.

Joseph described his 40 year experience of suffering to his brothers when he said, "You intended it to harm me, God intended it for good...the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50.20 NIV.) This teaches us something about the interaction between temptation and testing for Jesus in the Wilderness. Satan intended to tempt Jesus to sin, to sidetrack to fail. God intended it as part of His saving act accomplished through Jesus. The wilderness was not just about Jesus, it was about all of us.

God also wants us to know that though someone else, even the Devil, intends us harm, He intends to use our life experiences -- even suffering -- to bring good. "God works all things for good..." The good God brings overwhelms the bad intended, both in intensity and scope. "Where sin did abound, grace overwhelms!" Our momentary and light afflictions may bring blessing and good to many, many people as well as to ourselves.

The wilderness experience of Jesus calls us to follow Him into the grander scheme of the Kingdom of God. He lived for more than Himself. He lived for Father-God's glory and our good. We need to approach even suffering as an opportunity to glorify God and benefit others. This thing is much bigger than me just getting through my trial, my tough times. Leading in part means going through great adversity so that others might not have to go through it or at least have to go through it alone.

Finally, the wilderness of Jesus and the Egypt of Joseph teach us that preparations precede productivity. We want the crown, but avoid the cross. We want the wisdom, but stay clear of the experience. We want fruit, but cringe at the pruning. We want the prize, but chafe at the process. Without the struggle there is no victory. Without the training, there is no trophy. Without discipline, there is no freedom.