Intermediate Level, Block 3—Good Land to Egypt
Week 28
Joseph—Sober and Self-disciplined
Point to Emphasize: We can learn and practice to be sober and self-disciplined.
Reference Reading: Genesis 41:27-57; 42—45
Memory Verse: But, you, be sober in all things… (2 Timothy 4:5)
Story Sample
Last time, in our story of Joseph, we saw that he was finally released from prison! He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and came up with a plan for the coming famine. Because his plan was wise and he was bold to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, even though his own dreams had not yet been fulfilled, Pharaoh made him the ruler over the whole country. He oversaw the biggest project I have ever heard of—feeding the whole entire earth for seven years. God was with Joseph and gave him wisdom to plan for this. His plan was this: in the first seven years of abundance, overseers over the land of Egypt were appointed to take a fifth of the produce and to keep the grains and food in reserve in the cities. They gathered up all the food for storage. In those seven years, there was so much grain produced and stored that they had to stop measuring it because it couldn’t be measured anymore, like the sand of the sea. Now that’s a lot of grain! Then when the famine came, Joseph opened the storehouses of grain and sold it to all the Egyptians. In fact, the famine became so severe over the whole earth —not just in Egypt—- that all the earth came to Joseph to buy food.
Jacob and his sons lived in the land of Canaan. The famine became so terrible that all the people there had to go to Egypt to buy grain. So Jacob sent ten of his sons to go to Egypt. A-ha! What do you think will happen when they go to Egypt? Isn’t their brother Joseph there?
Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people. So Jacob’s sons had to go to him to buy grain. When they arrived, you know what they did? They came and bowed down to him. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Where have we heard this before? Right! This was Joseph’s dream! His dream was finally being fulfilled!
If you were Joseph, wouldn’t you have been so excited? I would have jumped up and down with excitement that my dreams were finally fulfilled after all these years. Joseph was about 17 when he got to Egypt. He became ruler of Egypt when he was 30, after 13 years in prison. And 9 years later, his brothers came and bowed down to him, just like in the dreams he had when he was 17. It took about 22 years for him to see the fulfillment of his dreams. What a long time to wait! I sure would have been overjoyed to see my brothers again and tell them how successful I had become.
However, you know what? Joseph did none of those things. He recognized his brothers immediately when he saw them. But he did not do things in a careless and foolish way. He also did not show off to his brothers. Rather, he was wise in dealing with his brothers. He did not let his excitement cause him to act foolishly or do things without thinking. Rather, he was sober, calm, and reasonable, and his excitement was under control.
I wish I could be more like Joseph. You see, one time when I was in elementary school, my teacher wanted to do something special for my class. She was going to surprise everyone in the class by giving us all special awards. She entrusted me with this surprise by telling me about it and asking me to keep it a secret. The award sounded so good, that I couldn’t wait for that special day. In fact, I was TOO excited that I actually started telling people. And not just one person, but the whole class. What’s worse is that they started telling other people, too. When my teacher found out, she was so disappointed because I ruined the surprise. Had I only been sober and disciplined, I would have kept the secret. Had I been sober, I would have not been wild or too much in my excitement. It doesn’t mean we can’t get excited. Of course we can. But had I just been calm and more serious about keeping the secret, even though I was excited, things would have gone a lot better. But because I was not, not only was the teacher disappointed at me, but I also ruined the surprise for everyone. [Storyteller, please share a personal story about being calm or self-disciplined.]
You know, we may not always be able to control our emotions and remain calm all the time, especially when something exciting happens. But be encouraged. We sure can learn and practice. We have such a good example in Joseph.
Joseph never gave up on his dreams. Through the years when he was sold, became a slave, and was imprisoned, he was trained, prepared, and qualified to become someone who could rule over an entire country. And when time came for his dreams to be fulfilled, he was sober and self-disciplined. This was truly someone who was qualified to become a ruler. We can also be persons like Joseph. We can learn not to do things in a careless way by letting our excitement take us over. Rather, we can learn to control ourselves and be calm and reasonable.