IMITATE THEIR FAITH/JOSEPH

"GO TO JOSEPH"

The days were busy for Joseph, and the years fled by. Just as  Jehovah foretold in the dream he sent Pharaoh, the seventh year of bumper crops was followed by a drastic change.  The crops failed!  Soon famine loomed over all the neighboring lands. As the Bible notes, though, "In all the land of Egypt there was bread." (Genesis 41:54)  No doubt, Joseph's inspired prediction and his example of good organization were benefiting the Egyptian people.  

The Egyptians may have felt indebted to Joseph and praised his skill as an organizer. Still, Joseph would not have wanted  credit to go anywhere but to his God, Jehovah. If we use any gifts  we may have in humble service to our God, he may put them to use in ways that exceed anything we could ever imagine.  

In time, though, the Egyptians too felt the bite for aid, he simple directed them:    "Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you."  So Joseph began to open up the granaries where the surplus grain was stored, and the people could buy what they needed. - Genesis 41:55, 56. 

In the surrounding lands, however, people were not so fortunate. Hundreds of miles away in Canaan, Joseph's family was suffering. Aged Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, so he told his sons to go down there to buy foodstuffs. - Genesis 42:1, 2. 

Jacob sent ten sons but not the youngest, Benjamin. Jacob remembered only too well the time when he sent his beloved Joseph alone to visit his older brothers. That was the last time Jacob had sen of the boy. The older sons had brought home Joseph's elegant coat-a mark of his father's love and regard-all torn and bloodied.  They led the heartbroken old man to believe that Joseph had been eaten by wild beasts. - Genesis 37:31-35. 

Next time: IMITATE THEIR FAITH/JOSEPH -"JOSEPH IMMEDIATELY REMEMBERED" 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015