Let’s be honest with ourselves, we all have needs in our lives right? It could be anything from needing a financial blessing, a husband, clarity from God in where your life is leading, healing in your own life or a family members, the list goes on and on.
Last week I was reading the story of Joseph, one that is familiar to many of us. It is a story of God’s faithfulness. I was reading the story in Genesis chapter 40 and stopped after I read verses 6 and 7. Okay, before I continue let me set the context of the story if you are unfamiliar. Joseph was his fathers favorite son and was quite the dreamer. His brothers were envious and plotted to kill him but then thought on second thought, nah we will just sell him as an Egyptian slave. Well Potiphar, one of Pharoah's (the king) right hand men, saw that Gods hand was on Joseph and everything he put his hands to was blessed so he put him in charge of everything. Well, Potiphar's wife had a thing for Joseph and wanted to jump his bones, but when Joseph said no, she called rape on him and he was then thrown in prison where he meets the butler and the baker who recently ticked off the king. They are now in the same prison as Joseph. Now Genesis 40:6-7 (NKJV) “And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who they were with him in the custody of his Lord’s house, saying “Why do you look so sad today?” After reading those to verses I paused. I was kind of puzzled. I started thinking here is Joseph, I mean I know God was with him but in reality his brothers sold him into slavery after deciding it would be better than killing him, he was accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife , and now he is sitting in jail! Hello, maybe it is just me but I am pretty sure it is safe to say that Joseph had some need in his life. But the crazy part is that while it isn’t hard to see the need in his life, he was recognizing and meeting the need in two other people’s lives. By taking an interest in the butler and butcher he had his own need met because a few years later when Pharaoh needed his own dream interpreted and the butler remembered Joseph. When Pharaoh saw that God’s hand was on everything Joseph did he was not only released from prison but exalted and put in charge of all Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) possessed. When I read this about Joseph it inspired me and I thought I want to be like him. I want to be someone who never gets so lost in my own needs that I miss the needs I can meet in others lives. It would have been so easy for Joseph to never have said a word to the butler because he had plenty to worry about himself. Instead he cast his needs in the hands of Jesus and made a conscious choice to serve the needs of other amidst his own and was therefore set free from his own needs. Too often we miss the answers to our needs because we won’t answer the needs of others that God is strategically placing in our lives. Selah
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