One of the ideas I wanted to try is a series in which I look at leaders within the Bible and put my spin on their story and how it relates to some of the things that I see going on around me.
We start our journey with Joseph. Whereas Solomon is the wisest, and Samson is the strongest, Joseph’s claim to the game is that he invented “taxes”.
That’s right good ol’ H&R Block taxes. So, next time you file your W2… we know who to Derek Jeter tip our hat to in the grocery store.
The story of Joseph, and how God led him to where he needed to be in order to accomplish great things takes us to a great place philosophically. I really think before we do anything here at Alawae, we should start here when looking at a leadership journey and gain the perspective of Joseph in decisions. There’s a lot to unpack.
Think on this for a sec.. here’s this guy Joseph, the favorite son, the promised one,
The Lebron James of The Middle East.
He knew he was set for life, but he moved a little too strong for those around him and got sold into Slavery. All things being considered, that’s a really… drastic consequence to be honest.
Like think about it primo, there are so many other petty things or lessons his brothers could have done to humble our dude. But to straight up call a town hall meeting and go 0 to 100 and make a vote of “yeah, let’s go with the slavery option”,
I dunno.. just seems like something a good night’s sleep could have avoided.
So back to the story, by Genesis chapter 38, everything Joseph knew and owned that made him “special”, is taken from him. He is now in Egypt turning big rocks into little rocks for the rest of his days as a slave. Yet there’s still 13 more chapters, so there must be something more after the commercial break.
As you read on, we see God take what was meant for evil and turn it into a victory. Joseph is currently sitting in an Egyptian jail, simply for not spitting game at the King’s wife. Doing precisely what his mama told him probably to do when put in that situation. No trial, no nothing.. his situation reads like a Monopoly chance card, but I’m not judging.
It is in this jail where he now sits in front of two cellmates. One comes up to him for no particular reason, with a dream and it is here where a lot of the action really begins in Joseph’s life.
If you look back on Joseph’s story, the previous times he started speaking of dreams he was kind of out of pocket towards his family, and had people looking at him a certain way as arrogant or boastful which is what led to him sitting in jail in the first place. Now however, in this new meeting, in the dark, spooky cells of Egypt.. God provides an opportunity for Joseph to become a leader.
We’ll pick this up in the next post to bring this into the modern day and how you can use Joseph’s story to guide you through challenging situations. See you then!
