My "Run Away" Favorite

     Another one of my favorite people in the Old Testament is one that ran away! Ran away? Yup! Ran away from an act that would have destroyed him and his family in many ways. Any ideas yet? I am talking of Joseph of old. The same Joseph that was sold into Egypt, by his brothers, and worked his way up in a relatively high class house and then because he would not commit adultery with the wife of his boss was tossed in jail. And once again he worked his way up until he was respected there. Finally he worked his way into becoming Pharoah's right hand man, so to speak. And through all of this he was able to save his family from starvation.

     I don't only respect and honor Joseph for being such a righteous God-fearing and obedient son of God, but I do so as well because even after all his brothers did to him, he forgave them. He did not dwell on their actions nor did he seek revenge for what they did. He realized that it was the Lord's way of saving him and his family. Now we might say, "But couldn't the Lord have done it in an easier way?" For sure He could have, BUT He also needed to test Joseph and see how truly strong Joseph would be in his obedience to the Lord. And I also feel that the testing the Lord gave to Joseph, in so many ways, was also a way of Joseph strenghtening his own testimony of God!! After all, if the path would have been simple and easy, how strong would Joseph have truly been?

     If your path, or my path, is a simple and easy one, how strong will we really be when things get hard? I pray we may follow Joseph's example of choosing to run from anything that is going to lead us to destruction! And to be faithful and true to the Lord and the covenants we have made with Him. Because not only was Joseph saved, but his family which includes many of us nowadays! And so may our choices save us and our families and lead us to the eternal world of happiness!!!