GOD’S TRAINING MANUAL

by Charles R.
Swindoll

Read Genesis 37:1-4

Before we get better acquainted with Joseph, let's take a quick
glance at some background information. It will help if you remember that his
biography falls neatly into three distinct segments.

Birth to Seventeen Years (Genesis 30:24-37:2). During
this time Joseph's family was in transition---everyone was unsettled, on the
move. A low-level antagonism was brewing as his family clashed and argued in
jealousy and hatred.

Seventeen to Thirty Years (Genesis 37:2-41:46). This
second segment occurs as Joseph reaches young manhood. It seems as though his
life becomes out of control. Enslavement, unfair accusation, and imprisonment
assault him.

Thirty Years to Death (Genesis 41:46-50:26). Joseph's
last eighty years are years of prosperity and reward under God's blessing. He
had the classic opportunity to get even with his brothers, to ruin them forever,
but he refused. Instead he blessed, protected, and forgave.

God constantly uses the lives of Bible characters to teach us, to
encourage us, to warn us. Who can forget the impact of the truths lived out in
the lives of David and Esther, of Moses and Elijah, of Peter and Paul? It's
impossible to leave truth in the theoretical realm when you see it revealed in
the lives of real-life men and women. That is what these divinely inspired
biographies do; they distill truth and weave it into the fabric of everyday
living. God's training manual is full of lives that inspire and instruct.

Romans 15:4 states, "For whatever was written in earlier
times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the
encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (emphasis added). This
reference to "earlier times" encompasses all the truths written in the Old
Testament. And if I read this verse correctly, there are two basic reasons God
has allowed us to have the Old Testament available for study and application:
first, for present instruction, and second, for future hope. God has given us
this information so that our minds can learn the truth about Him and about life,
and so that we will be encouraged to persevere in the future.

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