Plan Four: Courageous Fearናሙና

COURAGEOUS FEAR...SUSTAINED JOSEPH’S FAITH

Joseph had every reason to be angry with God. His brothers sold him into slavery. Talk about sibling rivalry! But the Lord was with Joseph. He rose in responsibility and eventually was made overseer in Potiphar’s house and over everything Potiphar owned.

With courageous fear, Joseph used his God-given gift of interpreting dreams to tell Pharaoh that Egypt’s fertile crescent would cease to produce crops in seven years, and a prolonged, seven-year famine would envelop that region. It took great courage to tell Pharaoh that one of Egypt’s gods, the Nile River, would fail him.

Joseph’s courageous fear compelled him to forgive his brothers, for someone with deep bitterness and hatred could never have been such an instrument of God. Yes, early on, Joseph chose to believe that his God was still in control, not his brothers and that he was not bound by the cruel ropes tied around his wrists, but he was mercifully bound to God’s unseen plan for his life.

Twenty-three years later, Joseph expressed forgiveness directly to his brothers. The region was two years into the seven-year famine when Joseph’s family living in Canaan ran out of food, and his brothers were forced to travel to Egypt to buy provisions. Joseph was no longer the 18-year-old man they had sold into slavery; he was now 41 and had risen to be “father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his shocked brothers and immediately assured them that this was God’s plan. God had sent him to Egypt ahead of them to preserve them and to save many lives.

Then, 16 years later, upon the death of his father, Jacob, a tearful Joseph once again reassured his doubting brothers of his forgiveness. With wisdom, kindness, and grace born of the fear of God, he said to them, “…You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

God extends an extra measure of love and kindness to those who fear him. Joseph had experienced this love and, in turn, extended it to his brothers. Because he feared God, God’s sovereignty became a settled issue in Joseph’s life, never to be questioned. From that grew unimaginable courage, love, and wisdom.