I am currently reading the book, The Bait of Satan by John Bevere, and would like to share a small portion of it with you. John Bevere, writing about Joseph whose story is in the Bible - Genesis, Chapter 37 to 45 - writes:
'Now do you think that when Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave, God in heaven looked at the Son and the Holy Spirit and said, "What are We going to do now? Look at what his brothers have done. They have ruined our plan for Joseph. We had better think of something quick! Do We have an alternate plan?
Many Christians respond to crisis situations as if this is exactly what transpires in heaven. Can you just see the Father saying to Jesus, "Jesus, Jim got fired because a fellow believer lied about him. What are We going to do? Do You have any positions open down there?" Or, "Jesus, Sally is 34 and not married yet. Do You have any available guys down there for her? The man I wanted her to marry got married to her best friend, who gossiped about her and turned his heart away." It sounds absurd, yet the way we react insinuates that this is the way we view God.
Let's see how Joseph would fare in our churches today. If he were like most of us, do you know what he would be doing? Plotting revenge. He would comfort himself with such thoughts as, "When I get my hands on them, I'll kill them! I will kill them for what they have done to me. They are going to pay for this."
But if Joseph had actually had this attitude, God would have left him in that dungeon to rot! That's because if he had gotten out of prison with this motive, he would have killed the heads of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. This would include Judah, from whose lineage Christ would descend.
Yes, the ones who treated Joseph so wickedly were the patriarchs of Israel! And God had promised Abraham that they would bring forth a nation. Through them the Lord Jesus would eventually come! Joseph stayed free from offense, and the plan of God was established in his life and in the lives of his brothers.'
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