Yet, as I read through Genesis again I’m utterly amazed at God’s career plan for Joseph. Through Joseph’s dreams it appears that God had given him an inkling of what the future might hold for him. His brothers and even his father interpreted this as arrogance. In fact, his brothers were so incensed by Joseph’s dreams and preferential treatment by his dad that they hated him (Genesis 37:4).

So at about the young age of 17, Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him, then thought better of it and sold him as a slave to Midianite merchants who in turn sold him to one of Pharaoh’s officials in Egypt. Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers cunningly convinced their father that Joseph was dead, having been torn apart by some wild beast.

As bleak and hopeless as Joseph’s situation appears, the Scriptures inform us, “The Lord was with him and gave him success in all he did” (Genesis 39:2-5). It’s so easy to read that and just plow on in the text oblivious to what was happening behind all of this, so let’s ponder this for a moment. From the time Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt until the time when he was promoted to second in command over all of Egypt was about thirteen years. He spent some of those thirteen years as a slave in Potiphar’s household and the remaining years in prison.

In planning my own career path, neither slavery nor a prison sentence ever entered my mind as a possible stepping stone toward promotion! Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, Joseph was falsely accused of trying to seduce his master’s wife. Precisely where Joseph has determined to keep his integrity intact, his reputation was soiled by this false accusation and circumstantial evidence. (Potiphar’s wife had grabbed his cloak as “proof” that he had tried to rape her.)

In several places in Scripture we gain insight into Joseph’s trials. He himself refers to “all his trouble” and his “suffering” in Egypt. And the Psalmist explains of Joseph, “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons” (Psalm 105:18). Add to his physical suffering, the loneliness and oppression of slavery, a tarnished reputation and the hardships and humility of prison.

Surely through all those years Joseph must have wrestled with God frequently! Joseph was a man like we are. Would he not have cried out to God, “Why? Why me? Why this? Where are you, God? Why don’t you answer my prayers for deliverance? Why do my brothers hate me so? Don’t you care about me? Have I done something terrible to warrant this treatment? If so, reveal it to me so I can repent!” Do you feel the turmoil and desperation he must have experienced?

And yet, the Scripture says, “The Lord was with him . . .  and gave him success in all he did” (Genesis 39:2-5). The implication here is that Joseph worked diligently and God prospered him in his work. In other words, Joseph rose above his circumstances and kept his integrity intact by working hard and doing well for his bosses. In his diligence God blessed him. However, Joseph’s diligence was coupled with his dependence on God. Notice that in his conversations with the cupbearer and baker and later with Pharaoh, Joseph credits God with the interpretation of dreams.

Again, we find something amazing going on here in the background. In the middle of all his struggling and suffering Joseph’s relationship with God had deepened profoundly. With the interpretation of these dreams it’s clear that Joseph had learned how to listen to God. Joseph was alert to the working of God and he also knew God’s character. Remember his words to Potiphar’s wife when she was trying to seduce him? “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9)

Joseph clearly saw his dependence on God and lived dependently on him trusting him for all things. Joseph had lost his standing as a favored son of a wealthy rancher. Then he lost his position as a trusted slave. His reputation was slandered and his freedom taken. But Joseph continually cultivated his relationship with God.

Later on as second in command over all Egypt, Joseph possessed all the power and authority to bring justice upon his scheming brothers. But Joseph freely forgave them. His words of encouragement to them are incredible! Joseph consoled them, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” (Genesis 45:4-5) Joseph’s relationship with God had worked in him a forgiving, loving response to those who had hurt him.

And later, when their father had died, Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” (Genesis 50:19-20)

Joseph’s words also demonstrate that he found great joy and purpose in knowing that God was using him and that his life was impacting others for good. Too often I find myself more concerned with how fulfilling my job is for me. What I see in Joseph was a godly diligence and fervor for his job and then asking a chief question, “How is my work benefiting others?”

Finally, I find three prominent characteristics that stand out in Joseph’s story: 1) God’s presence, faithfulness and sovereign ability to turn awful circumstances into something wonderful; 2) Joseph’s trust in God and ability to see God’s care for him in spite of horrible trials; and 3) Joseph’s preoccupation with spending his life in the service of others.

©2010 Rob Fischer

After God delivered David from those who were trying to kill him David wrote Psalm 18. There he credits God with the strength and protection that spared his life. I love the way he expresses his dependence and diligence as a man trusting God. In verse 29 (NLT) David shouts with joy to God, “In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.” I too wanted to be a man who is following Jesus Christ and trusting him for strength and leading.

Well, at 19 years old, we were still at war in Viet Nam and the draft was still in force. So when I received a letter from Uncle Sam informing me that I was being inducted into the military, I remember feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation. I knew that nothing like this could happen to me without God’s sovereign direction. The military was not something I had shown any interest in, but I took it as an opportunity to grow in Christ and serve my country.

Back then not everyone shared my trust in God’s sovereign hand to guide and protect me. I remember one well-meaning Christian warned me sternly that the military could not possibly be good for me, nor God’s will for me. I asked her why not and what she would have me do about it? She expressed fear for the evil influences to which I’d be exposed, but had no answer for any legal means of avoiding it. I assured her that God could take care of me in the military as well as anywhere else and encouraged her to let God be God.

On the day of my induction, I reported to the Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had a small bag with a change of clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, and I had my Bible under my arm. I walked into a very large, bustling office and stopped to look around and figure out what I was to do next. Just then, a sergeant behind a desk called me over and asked me about my Bible! I told him that I am a follower of Christ and he declared himself one too. Then he asked me why I was there.

With this Christian sergeant’s guidance my life took a major turn within the next few hours. I had come that day with orders to go to basic training in Kentucky with no particular focus in training after basic. When I left by bus four hours later, I had orders to go to basic in Missouri, following which I would be assigned to the Army Security Agency and be trained as a linguist. I was overwhelmed with a sense of God’s pleasure and presence with me.

David prayed in Psalm 18:36, “You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.” I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was leading me and that I could trust him!

©2009 Rob Fischer

Still, there were aspects of Bible college I really enjoyed—especially the relationships I had built with friends. So after the first semester, when my money had run out, I was crushed because I couldn’t continue. I remember wondering why God didn’t provide for my tuition like he had for other students. Having to leave school just didn’t make sense to me. Why would God allow this to happen? Isn’t going to Bible college a good thing to do?

When I left Multnomah, I still owed them tuition from the last semester and I needed to pay off my bill quickly. My brother invited me to work at a feed mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that a friend of ours managed. I applied there and they hired me into the lowest job at the mill, “end-man.”

As end-man I loaded and unloaded trucks and boxcars of 25, 50 and 100 pound sacks of feed all day long. Work in the feed mill was grueling! When I started it was January in Minnesota. I remember a week long period of minus 33 degrees every night with highs in the minus 20’s and the warehouse was not heated. The arctic wind would blast through the drafty warehouse, numbing our toes and fingers. The only way to keep warm was to work hard and fast. On breaks we retreated to the basement to huddle around the boiler that heated the offices.

I’m sure today that the conditions under which we worked would not be tolerated by OSHA! The only safety training we got was the order, “Don’t get hurt!” And all day long we breathed in whey and milk replacer dust. Handling the bags was so hard on gloves that we went through a pair of cloth gloves daily. Leather gloves lasted a week.

But it was in the middle of these harsh working conditions that God got my attention. Two of the other guys working there at the time had recently come to Christ out of the hippy movement. They were so in love with Jesus Christ, with each other and others that it showed prominently in everything they did. On breaks each would pull a tattered New Testament out of his pocket and devour the Word with a hunger I had never experienced. And the respect and love they showed the rough, multi-ethnic workforce at the feed mill was nothing short of Christ-like.

After watching these two followers of Christ for a few weeks, I went home one night and fell down on my knees next to my bed and cried out to God. I asked him to forgive my complacency and apathy toward him and I begged him to grant me the same love for him that I saw my two co-workers exhibit. My life has never been the same since! I felt like I had entered into a personal adventure with God!

I discovered that God wants to be intimately involved in all areas of our lives. And when we trust him and recognize his hand at work in everything we do, life truly is an adventure with him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

©2009 Rob Fischer

My Christian activities included: going to church, Sunday school and youth group weekly; serving as president of our high school Campus Life Club; functioning as a charter member of a Christian fraternity called Alpha Chi; singing competitively with a Christian music group; counseling at summer and winter camps for juvenile delinquents; participating in a national contest selling Campus Life Magazine subscriptions; and taking a leadership role at the Youth For Christ rallies. I rose early each morning to keep my quiet time with the Lord in which I prayed and read the Bible. (I had faithfully kept up that habit since the fifth grade.)

But as you ponder the above list of activities, please don’t let your mind go where mine did! On the one hand I was proud of what I was doing for the Lord, but on the other hand I never felt like I was doing enough or wondered if the things I was doing were the right things.

Although my motivations may have been more pure in the beginning, they had degenerated to the point that I became totally preoccupied with what I was doing for the Lord and whether I was in his will. I felt desperate to know his will! You see my preoccupations were horribly misplaced!

God is not glorified or pleased by how much we accomplish for him, but by how much we love him. He wants us to find our genuine satisfaction and fulfillment in knowing him, not in working ourselves to the bone for him. And the beautiful thing is that when we pursue him instead of activities for him, he truly uses us and leads us to do those things that really do bring him glory.

In the context of the above read what the Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”

I also recognize now that God loves me because I’m his child, not because of what I do for him. Knowing that frees me to serve him out of gratitude and love instead of out of duty and obligation.

©2009 Rob Fischer

I was riding a 1968 Sears and Roebuck ten-speed racer with a hard plastic seat. Others rode heavy Schwinns and quite a few bought brand new Gitanes—a super light-weight French bike. But no matter what we were riding, by the third day our butts were sore! Past that third day mark we began to get into a groove in which we felt good and rode hard.

On one particular day I remember a 40-mile stretch of very flat road in Wisconsin. We had the wind to our backs and took turns drafting behind each other to maximize our efficiency. We rode that stretch in 90 minutes! We felt exhilarated and frankly a bit cocky that we could ride so far so fast on our bikes.

Each night along the way we camped in tents. The first half of the trip was great! The weather was warm and balmy. We found wild blueberries growing near one of our campsites in Michigan and added them to the pancake batter. We burned a lot of calories and ate a lot. We even found a sandy beach on Lake Superior that invited a refreshing swim. Life on this ride so far was good!

But in White River, Ontario, we woke to a cold, relentless west wind driving fine rain that pierced like needles. The temperature had plummeted to 35 degrees Fahrenheit during the night. Until now we had enjoyed weather that allowed us to ride shirtless with shorts. We simply weren’t prepared for this! We were soaked and numb with cold.

The rain made it more difficult to ride. Later in the day it was raining so hard, we couldn’t see well. We also became less visible to traffic and several of us had close calls with cars and trucks that forced us off the road. The terrain had also changed. We began encountering hills that were so long and so steep that the locals had given them names. All of these factors mounted to discourage and dishearten us and by that afternoon all I wanted was to call my dad and have him come pick me up!

As a 16-year-old I had not yet endured the experiences of life that toughen one’s spirit and resolve. So I was ready to give up. Our leader, Larry, recognized what was going on in me and challenged me. He pointed out that I had already successfully ridden half the trip and these trials were not a good reason to quit. Larry told me I could make it and that he knew I had it in me. Besides, the weather might improve.

But most importantly Larry challenged me to draw on God’s strength and his reserves. He introduced me to Isaiah 40:31 NLT, “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” That verse stuck in my head and heart and I truly found new strength in the Lord as I leaned on him.

With Jesus Christ as my Leader it was as though I was drafting behind him up those long hills. Even the cold, driving rain didn’t seem so bad anymore. In spite of the fact that the weather did not change for the next few days, I now approached the challenge differently. What had started out as a lark, was now significantly more difficult, but I found great joy in trusting Christ through it all. He gave me the strength to enjoy the ride on a new level.

On the final stretch as we pedaled into Minneapolis someone had tipped off the city and they provided a police escort in honor of our homecoming. That day we experienced the thrill and satisfaction of having completed that epic ride. But more than the ride, I’ve never forgotten how God rode with me and strengthened me.

For a 16-year-old that 1300 mile bicycle trip was a monumental trial. Since then, I’ve experienced many obstacles and trials that make those on the bicycle trip look puny. But I’ve found that by trusting Christ for successively bigger hurdles my faith in him grows each time. Now, over 40 years since that bike trip, my confidence in Christ continues to swell. To be honest, I still occasionally experience a trial so daunting that I feel I’ll be crushed under it. But every time I trust Christ and experience his faithfulness my foundation for weathering the next trial becomes even more firm and unshakable.

©2009 Rob Fischer

The other day I began thinking back over some of the key people in my life who had a profound impact in modeling Christlikeness for me. My parents played a huge role in demonstrating the lifestyle of a Christ follower for me. They were human, sinners and had weaknesses just like everybody else, but their lives were also on a continual upward trajectory of growth in Christ. Who they were in private at home was who they were in any and all other settings.

We were a family of five kids—I was the oldest—and every evening we ate supper together. My parents weren’t particularly strict. I can’t believe some of things my brothers and I got away with! But they ingrained certain key values in our lives that flow from becoming like Christ. Some of those values include: loving Christ passionately, working hard, always seeking to do my best, loving others, caring for the needs of the less fortunate, generosity, hospitality, and practicing simple common courtesies and being polite.

I can’t recall a time when my parents ever sat us down to teach us those values, but they modeled them before us with their lives on a daily basis. To this day, I’ve never known anyone as selfless and generous as my parents.

When I was in elementary school there were several men who also greatly impacted my life for good. Mr. Alman was the only male teacher at my school. He was stern and strict when he needed to be and the other teachers looked to him to bring order in tough disciplinary situations. But the thing I remember most about Mr. Alman was that he deeply cared for us kids. Even back then I recognized that he approached teaching as a calling rather than a job. He also loved Jesus Christ, which exhibited itself strongly in his good character and integrity. He was the kind of man I wanted to grow up to be like.

In sixth grade I had a Sunday school teacher whose name was Buzz Sawyer (really). I don’t remember what he did for a living except that he worked a craft of some kind and always had dirty fingernails. (It’s funny what kids remember.) Mr. Sawyer volunteered his time to lead this band of rowdy sixth-grade boys every Sunday. But his care for us didn’t end there. Often on summer weekends he would take us boating or swimming and sledding in the winter.

What I remember about Mr. Sawyer was the simplicity of his devotion to Christ and how he integrated his love for Christ into everything he did. Whether at work or play, with his wife and family or with us boys he was the real thing. Again, he modeled for us what a true Christ-follower looks like.

©2009 Rob Fischer

Over the next few weeks I’ve decided to tell some of the stories of God’s faithfulness in my life. My prayer is that if you have never “tasted and seen” how good God is that you would begin to experience the joy of trusting him. Or perhaps in the past you have “tasted and seen” that God is good, but that experience seems foreign and distant. Take heart! God invites us:

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free!

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, 6 NLT)

At a very young age I began to experience God’s faithfulness and goodness. When I was twelve, our church launched a “faith-promise” missions campaign. “Faith-promise” is a concept of asking God what amount of money he wanted us to trust him to faithfully provide through us—in this case specifically for missions. I remember being very excited about asking Jesus what he wanted me to trust him for. At the end of two weeks I was certain that God had led me to write down a specific amount on my pledge card.

As the day approached for us to turn in our pledge cards I was ecstatic with anticipation! I really believed that God had led me to a specific amount per week that he would provide through me over the next year as I trusted him. I really saw this as an adventure with Jesus!

That morning on the way to church, my parents knew that I was participating in the faith-promise campaign and asked what amount I had written on my pledge card. I told them, “Four dollars.” My parents looked a bit shocked and asked, “You don’t mean four dollars per week, do you?” To which I responded with a big smile, “Yes, I do!”

My parents paused a moment and said, “Honey, you only get a dollar a week for your allowance. How are you going to give four?” With my simple child-faith I said, “Jesus will provide! I know he will!” And to my parents’ credit they accepted my answer to trust God. As I turned in my faith-promise card that morning I could hardly wait to see what God was going to do.

When I got home that afternoon, I prayed asking God to bless my efforts. Then I ran around to various neighbors and asked if I could mow their lawns and perform other yard work for them. That afternoon I landed three mowing jobs. When fall came the jobs turned to raking leaves and snow shoveling that winter.

There were some weeks in which I did not know how God would provide for that week. But he did! In fact, he provided four dollars for my missions faith-promise offering every week for 52 weeks that year! I truly experienced great joy in seeing him work this way in my life.

Even as a 12-year-old I learned some amazing things about my relationship with Jesus Christ. I learned that he is very trustworthy. I saw that I can listen to him and follow him and that he delights in leading us and working in our lives. I also began to experience a taste of his greatness by watching him provide way beyond my own ability. Finally, I got to savor his love—not only for me for those who were receiving the gifts that he gave through me.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8 NLT

©2009 Rob Fischer