Joseph’s coats (3)
2020-09-13Genesis 41:42 NIV
The third coat Joseph wore was: The coat of destiny. Because Joseph honoured God, even in the most difficult circumstances, he ended up on the throne of Egypt, wearing the coat of rulership and fulfilling his destiny. The psalmist said God ‘sent a man before them – Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed’ (Psalm 105:17-21 NIV). The tests and temptations we’re facing are preparing us for our future. All of our life can be training for one season, for one assignment. And the greater the assignment, the greater the attack that will come against us. Five times in Genesis 39 the Bible says, ‘The Lord was with Joseph.’ But that did not exempt him from betrayal by his family; or repeated temptation at the hands of his boss’s wife; or accusations and false imprisonment; or disappointment at the hands of the butler he befriended in prison. Looking back, however, Joseph realised that all of these experiences were ‘training for reigning’. When Joseph was faced with his brothers again, after they sold him into slavery, he said: ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’ (Genesis 50:20 NIV). Things that we go through, and the things that come against us, can all be used by God to shape us for the future He has for us.