Joseph: Finding Purpose in Feast or Famineနမူနာ

Embracing Our Purpose

In the final chapters of Genesis, we see three powerful men jockeying for position, each one absolutely certain of his purpose and intentional in the way he wields it. First, Pharaoh must keep his brilliant vizier happy while also maintaining a likely tenuous political balance in his court during the current famine. Giving Joseph’s family of shepherds Egypt’s best grazing land was an extravagant kindness, but instructing Jacob’s family to leave all their possessions in Canaan and sending Egyptian carts and supplies to fetch them was a show of power—intended to make them reliant on Pharaoh alone. Notice, Jacob packed all he owned when he went to Egypt, a lifelong Bedouin previously beholden to no one (46:1).

Jacob inherited his purpose as the covenant bearer when he stole the blessing from his brother Esau (Gen. 27). Part of the covenant passed down from Abraham to Isaac and then to Jacob was to bless all nations, so when Jacob arrived in Egypt and was presented to Pharaoh (at age 130), Jacob bowed before the most powerful ruler on earth and blessed him—twice! (47:7, 10)

Joseph’s purpose after his family arrived in Egypt continues with the same balanced power and patience he displayed when his brothers first arrived. Egypt endured five more years of famine after their arrival, so I’m sure Joseph’s duties occupied him, but the underlying message of Scripture points to more than a busy schedule as Joseph’s reason for distance. When Jacob was dying—seventeen years after he’d arrived in Egypt—he had word sent that Joseph should come, which implies Joseph didn’t visit regularly or know his father’s health had declined. When Joseph brought both sons with him to say goodbye to his father, Jacob mentioned that he never expected to see Joseph’s face again but was thrilled God allowed him to see Joseph’s children (48:11). It seems almost as if it was the first time Jacob had seen them—or at least he hadn’t seen them for a long time.

My point in rehearsing those years Joseph spent as vizier of Egypt while his father and brothers lived close—but not too close—is to illustrate the concept of “meek but not weak.” Knowing one’s purpose gives us power. We need never apologize for doing what God has called us to do. But, like Joseph, we’ll have hard choices to make. Meekness is often defined as power controlled. Though I have the power to [fill in the blank], I choose not to use it. Not using my power may appear weak or uncaring, but it’s a conscious—and prayer-bathed—choice to follow God’s wisdom and fulfill His purpose through me. I suspect Joseph needed that distance between him and his quickly multiplying family to maintain sanity! Most importantly, he maintained the distance necessary to remain at the very center of God’s good purpose for his whole life.

What boundaries will you need to put in place so you can fulfill God’s good purpose in your life? How can you be meek, not weak?