Joseph – his life repurposed by Yahweh

https://odb.org/2025/10/30/repurposed

Genesis 45:12–15, 21-27 (NIV):

12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

21 So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. 23 And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

On a far greater scale, God has a way of repurposing people. We remember the biblical story of Joseph and his “coat of many colors.” As a young man, he was a lowly shepherd and was sold into slavery by his brothers. But God led Joseph through great difficulties and into the top ranks of government. Eventually Joseph became “repurposed” as “the ruler of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:26). Yet Joseph’s calling was not about power but about grace—something he extended to his brothers as he forgave them (v. 15). (Kenneth Petersen, ODB 30th October 2025)

I believe that even if we had responded positively to our calling in God that God may, in His wisdom and grace, repurpose our lives from time to time, season to season. That is why when I say calling, I usually qualify it by saying our calling for the season. The Lord may call us to do different things at different times of our lives. In Joseph’s case, after he was sold into slavery, he was the manager or caretaker at Potiphar’s house albeit still a slave. When he was a prisoner, he gained the favour of the warden and was put in charge of all the prisoners. Later because of his God-given ability to interpret dreams while he was in prison, he was called to interpret a dream of the Pharoah.

As Joseph successfully predicted the coming famine and suggested to the Pharoah to store up food reserves in the first season of seven years of prosperity to prepare for the next seven years of great famine, he saved Egypt from destruction and death. As a result, Joseph was made ruler in Egypt, second only to the Pharoah himself. At the spiritual level, God saved the then nascent tribe of Israel (in essence, the family of Jacob) and safeguarded a family lineage to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

The ultimate calling of Joseph was to preserve and protect the covenant of Abraham, his great grandfather, with Yahweh (the Abrahamic Covenant) but his life was repurposed from glory to glory. His life also personified a fundamental spiritual principle that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope that doesn’t disappoint (Romans 5:35).

The message this morning is to remind ourselves that God may have a different calling for us at different stages of our lives. Be prepared to be repurposed for greater exploits for the Lord. Our past callings and experiences will stand us in good stead for our calling for this season of our lives. We could have been a student, a teacher and now a retired advisor with wisdom built on years of life experiences with God and in dealing with the world and issues of life. I think one explicit and prevalent motto in Christian service is we serve our God until our dying breath!