Discovering why we're here (waiting on God's will)

Alrighty. Back to our story...... In addition to telling his dad (Jacob) about the shenanigans of his brothers, and wearing that special robe, Joseph had two strange dreams.
In the first dream, he and his brothers were gathering bundles of wheat in the fields. When his bundle stood up, the other bundles bowed down before it.
Oh boy. Not sure I would have told anyone about that dream....
Here's the corker -- the second dream is even more easily figured out:

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” (Genesis 37:9)

When he told this one to the family, the Bible says his brothers "hated him even more," and his dad rebuked him. But then he gave it some serious thought.... (v. 11)
Wow; in four different verses Moses tells us that things were coming to a boil here: verses 4, 5, 8, and 11 all say that the other brothers hated him and were jealous of him. Verse 4 even says they couldn't speak civilly to him!
Gotta stop here and think about how this applies to our lives..... Have we ever felt that the Lord had showed us something and we wanted to share? Perhaps others have been dismissive?
Have we felt a call on our lives, and those closest to us just don't recognize it?
Many a young person, and adults, too, have had to fight through opposition to serve God. Family, friends, it doesn't matter sometimes. Not everyone will applaud our decision to follow Christ. Some will oppose us gently, kindly. Others will oppose us openly, and perhaps criticize us behind our backs. In Joseph's case, his brothers are just about ready to conspire and then commit a crime.

It's that old, green-eyed, slimy, slithery monster. It's envy. Paul warns believers in Hebrews:

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:15)

Before Paul said that, Solomon told us:

A heart at peace gives life to the body,    but envy rots the bones. (Proverbs 14:30)

In Joseph's case, envy will not only cause trouble, but will nearly destroy his whole family.....

Our timeline moves much more quickly now, in Genesis 37. The brothers conspire to kill him -- mock him as he comes across the pasture toward them -- they throw him in one of the nearby pits, though, instead of killing him "right off the bat."
Then we see something that sends chills up our spines: as he is in the pit, they sit down and eat a leisurely meal! Can't you imagine that Joseph is pleading, shouting, yelling in frustration from the bottom of the pit? And there are the brothers, savoring their lunches? What sort of men do this? Are we beginning to see that Joseph was right when he "reported" on them to his dad? How can they hear his cries and not be moved? We see that one brother is moved, though. Judah sees some approaching traders, winding their way along, swaying gently on the backs of their camels, and comes up with a plan. "Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites!" Then the blood is not on their hands.....

So the deal was struck, and the brothers received twenty pieces of silver. They took Joseph's lovely coat, and as the caravan disappeared on the horizon, they dipped it into goat's blood, and took it home to Jacob. "A wild animal killed him," they lied to Jacob. The old man began to grieve.
We see that the traders took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to a man named Potiphar.
What a story!
It's all messed up -- where is God here?
Has He abandoned Joseph?
Nope. Joseph is exactly where the Lord wants him to be! This chain of events must have seemed dark and difficult to Joseph, but it's all leading exactly where God planned.

There are two applications that I think we can make in our own lives. When God has a plan for a believer, He often allows enemies to rise up and put us to the test. In Joseph's case, some of his worst enemies were the people who should have been closest to him: his family. See, this roller coaster ride started with a "little" sin (though there are no "littles" and "bigs" where sin is concerned) of envy. That led to conspiracy, and then violence, and then betrayal, and a horrible lie.  Our Lord Jesus warned us (quoting from the prophet Micah):

 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. (Matthew 10:36)

I guess we should not be surprised when people we thought we could trust turn against us, but I have to admit, I'm always stunned. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, the results can be devastating.
The second application is this: not even our enemies can stop us from doing God's will, and completing His plan, if we are walking with Him. I guess you could call this the other side of the coin. Nothing that the brothers did could cancel God's plans. From Jacob playing favorites, to the strange dreams, to the brothers' evil deeds, there is God -- the creator of the universe -- working His will. I shouldn't do this, but I can't help myself.....we said we were going to act as if we didn't know the end of the story, but I have to say this -- years later, Joseph would speak the truth when he told his repentant brothers:

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)

Yes, they intended to harm him, and spared his life because they saw the gleam of the traders' silver. It was pure evil. But God knew what was happening. And he knew a lot more besides! So God led him through some rough times, just as He sometimes leads us, too.
It may take us a long time to get a handle on why we are here. We may search for "why was I born?" for quite some time. It took a long time, but Joseph eventually discovered why he was born....

Maybe the best answer to that question is for us to say, "I was born to serve the Lord. Everything else is merely details."
We said before that the hero of Joseph's story wasn't Joseph -- it was God. The whole story shows us how God accomplishes His purposes even when we are clueless about the big picture! That comforts me, does it you?
We'll continue studying Joseph's wild ride next week.