Confession

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 NIV

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. Hebrews 11: 22.

Faith

In the hall of faith, our next faithful servant is Joseph. Joseph is Jacob and Rachel’s son. Jacob had ten sons with his wife Leah. And he had two sons with his beloved Rachel.

Jacob liked his father Issac struggled with favoritism. Sometimes sins are past down through families. My family struggled with addiction, what does your family struggle?

So Joseph is the first born of Jacob and Rachel, he has ten brothers that are technically half-brothers. He lived in a blended family and blended families have many challenges. Are you a member of a blended family? Either through divorce or remarriage after death.

The story that is known to many is that Jacob had a coat made for him. It must have been a beautiful coat, one to be envious of because his brothers were envious of the gift.

Read with me in Genesis,

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.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate^[a] robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Genesis 37: 2-4.

Jacob was known as Israel. We read the reason Jacob loved Joseph so much, he was born when Jacob was older, Rachel had a period of infertility and when she finally had a child, they probably doted on Joseph.

Well Joseph was seventeen when we read about the coat. He was a shepherd. He had a dream where he was in charge and he shared this with his dad and his brothers. 

So what happened next should not surprise us, Jacob known as Israel sent his beloved son to go and check on his brothers, they had had enough and so the plot thickens and long story short, Joseph is sold into slavery.

Perseverance

There is so much in Joseph’s story that I want to stop here today.

Joseph’s strength is he is confident and he loves God. His weakness is he brags too much.

As we read about Joseph is a lot happens to him, but he is all about perseverance. 

We see how jealousy impacts the decisions of the brothers, they commit a crime, they sell their brother into slavery after attacking him and putting him in a well. Read this in Genesis

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. Genesis 27: 17-23.

They later sell him into slavery. The story does not end there. More on the next blog.

Conclusion

Beloved, what are you struggling with today? Joseph is in the hall of faith because of his perseverance. 

What do you need to persevere in today?

What may you need to confess, will you claim the promise that if you confess your sin you will be forgiven?

Father God, may we not be consumed with jealousy. May we stop family sins. May we trust you in this current crisis. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen