Jealousy And Providence

By John Zylstra

Joseph is generally presented as a ‘hero of the faith,’ and yes, in one sense he is. But I believe that this is only half of the story. Too often he is elevated as a ‘plaster saint’, someone who appears to be totally out of reach for the ordinary Christian.
The real Joseph however, was far from that. God had to do a lot of work in him to make him more like Himself, just as He does in all of us.
This book is based on the Biblical accounts in Genesis 12 etc. and chapters 27-50, as well as Luke 2.
I hope that through this book we’ll be able to see Joseph as a ‘sinner, saved by grace,’ A 'spoiled brat', yet chosen by God, a sinner who ultimately was used by God to ensure the birth of the Saviour of mankind. Like Joseph, all believers have been chosen by grace to do the work that He has fore-ordained for us to do. The story of Joseph can encourage all of us who realise that we fall far short of the standards God requires, not to give up hope, but to trust that He can transform even the worst of us into an image of Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Zylstra
• Release date: May 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463765111

John Zylstra

John Zylstra, a Dutch-born Australian, landed on these shores as a bewildered ten-year old in the 1950's. God kept him through years of confusion and rebellion, before two years at the Sydney Missionary and Bible College consolidated his faith and helped him to get through this troublesome period.For over forty years John and his wife Lesley served within the NSW hospital system, and also within the wider Christian Church. He ministered within Presbyterian and Reformed churches, as well as amongst Aboriginal communities at Groote Eylandt, NT. and Maclean/Yamba in NSW. Although now officially retired John still treasures the numerous opportunities that still come his way to make God known through the written and spoken word.

Book preview

Index Preface

Introduction.

Fertile Soil

Blessings, Disappointments and Frustrations.

Dreams and hard reality.

Painful steps to faith.

Lessons in Reality

Dreams – Explained and Fulfilled

Peace, Purpose and revenge?

Reconciliation and Reunion

The End – or the Beginning?

Prologue

Preface

Joseph would have to be one of the best known characters in the Old Testament, but I’m not too sure if we really know the real Joseph. He is generally presented as a ‘hero of the faith,’ and yes, in one sense he is. But really, I believe that this only tells us half of the story. He is elevated as a ‘plaster saint’ a position which appears totally out of reach for the ordinary Christian.

The real Joseph however, was far from that. He was a saint, but not because he was always so good in himself. God did a lot of work in him to make him more like Himself, just as He does in all of us.

I hope that through this book we’ll be able to see Joseph as a ‘sinner, saved by grace,’ A sinner, chosen by Him to fulfil a great task; a sinner who ultimately was used by God to ensure the birth of the Saviour of mankind.

Like Joseph, all believers have been chosen by grace to do the work that He has foreordained for us to do.

Introduction

"Why can’t you accept the fact that you have work to do, instead of wasting my time with your gambling and drinking?

Why can’t you be more like Joseph? You’re older than him, but I never have to worry about him."

Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher accepted their father’s rebuke in sullen silence. Inside they were seething with anger and if looks could kill, then Joseph would have dropped dead on the spot.

They should have known better than to trust Joseph. He loved nothing better than telling tales of their misdemeanour to their father and they knew that Jacob would believe him, whether the tales were true or not. Joseph could do nothing wrong, especially not since his mother Rachel died.

When Jacob had sent the four of them out to look after the flocks it had seemed like a perfect opportunity to have a bit of fun together, but then, at the last moment, Joseph had been sent to join them as well. They had threatened him with dire consequences if he dared to breathe a word of what they were doing, but Joseph obviously thought that the risk of a possible bashing was worth it, just to see them squirm under the lash of their father’s tongue. Well, he’d better watch his step, he would get what was coming to him before too long.

Joseph was well aware of his brothers vicious glances. He knew that he would have to keep out of their way, but he also knew that they would not dare to try anything too bad. All in all he felt that he was pretty safe, and justified. After all, they had asked for it! They had left all the work to him and what could he have done if a wolf or a lion had attacked the flock?

Joseph felt a surge of self righteous indignation, but it was also tinged with longing and loneliness as he saw his six other older brothers come in to commiserate with the four delinquents.

That was the way it always was. He was pretty well alone, apart from his youngest brother Benjamin, and his doting father. That was part of the problem of course. His older brothers bitterly resented Jacob’s open preference for Joseph. He made it so plain day after day.

The latest thing to outrage them had been Jacob’s gift of a beautifully embroidered coat for Joseph while the rest of them got nothing!

Jacob’s richly furnished tent was not a happy home, it was a hotbed of jealousy and resentment, but that was a situation which had existed ever since their uncle Laban had tricked Jacob into marrying both his daughters

Fertile Soil.

Laban had been Jacob’s kind of man. He was a man who knew how to look after himself, a man who would not hesitate about taking a few shortcuts to ensure that he got what he wanted out of life.

Ah yes, Jacob understood alright. Even though he was young, he was already quite experienced in deceiving others. His greatest ‘triumph,’ or at least that was how he had thought of it at the time, was to get his father Isaac to promise him all the blessings which should rightly have belonged to his blustering but robust brother Esau, the first-born of the family. With the help of Rebekah, his mother, he had managed to deceive his blind, but still very astute father Isaac into this.

Naturally, Esau had been livid, but Jacob had dared to hope that Esau, with his easy going nature, would forget all about his trick as time went by. After all, the blessing had been given and there was no going back on that!

Esau’s anger however had far exceeded Jacob’s expectations and as a result his parent’s advise to look for a wife among his uncle Laban’s offspring in far of Paddan Aram suddenly became very attractive..

His journey to Paddan Aram had severely depressed him as the consequences of his actions had finally sunk in. It was on this long, weary road however, that Jacob had an experience which had shaken him to the core. God had met with him in a dream! The God his father had spoken of so often. The God who had made those rather fantastic sounding promises to his grandfather, Abraham.

In his dream Jacob had seen the doors of Heaven open and the angels ascending and descending on a long ladder. He had seen a figure in that doorway who had identified Himself as the Lord, the God of your fathers Abraham and Isaac.

This awe-inspiring God had renewed the promise that his father had spoken of:

I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

The experience had made quite an impact on Jacob. He had not been a religious man and most of the time he had taken his father’s teachings with a grain of salt, but this experience was too real to ignore. With trembling hands Jacob had taken up the stone he had placed under his head and had set it up as a pillar, poured oil on top of it and for the first time in his life had made a sacred vow to the God of his fathers:

"If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and