What Is God Doing? #21

What in the world is God doing? Where is he going with all this? So often the Bible reads like children’s stories or a prime-time soap opera. Is it all written down just for our titillation, or is there a point to it?

One of the odd things in the Bible is the way God takes a special interest in some individuals and seems to shepherd them through the dangers and tribulations of life. In Genesis, there is a thread running within a certain family where God seems to move forward with a purpose in mind. And it seems there is no way we can understand what he is doing without following that thread.

Imagine the intrigue in a wealthy and powerful family where there are twelve strong sons from the same father, but four different mothers. Add to this explosive mixture the fact that one son is the father’s fair-haired boy who gets special treatment at every turn. You don’t have to be a detective to think that someone is going to get killed. And it nearly came to that for Joseph, beginning in Genesis 37.