God Has Not Forgotten You
The story of Joseph
“He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: until the time that his word came; the Word of the Lord tried him, (Ps. 105:17-19).
Those who are called to be a part of the first rank and order, find that they travel a lonely journey, to blaze out the trail for those who follow. The whole family of Jacob, all the sons, their wives, their children, were destined to make a sojourn in the land of Egypt, but “He sent a man before them.” One had to go first, and his journey was not the same as those who followed later.
Rejection and loneliness
It was an adventurous trip when Jacob and all his family came down to Egypt. Pharaoh had sent wagons to carry him, and all his cattle and goods came with him. But it was far different then the trip Joseph made, being the “man sent before them.”
Joseph’s brethren sold him as a servant. He was separated from his brethren. He knew the agony of rejection and loneliness. He knew the heartache of ‘holding a vision” that seemingly did not have the remotest chance of fulfillment. All the outward circumstances were in opposition to that which his heart yearned after. He became a servant to the mundane!
When all seems lost
To the natural mind there is no continuity to the process. Sent by God, sold for a servant. Called to be a preserver of the people, his feet shackled with fetters, hemmed in, restricted, he was laid in iron. To use the vernacular of present times, these things just do not compute.
The inner vision says one thing; the outward circumstances are seemingly saying something else. This is the perplexity that faces those who spearhead the way from the old into the new. Only our Lord Jesus Christ has gone before us.
In due time
But the dreams and visions, which Joseph held, became a reality. After the Word of the Lord had fully tried him, his deliverance came, and he was made ruler in the land – and able to provide for his whole family in due time.
