1 Corinthians 10:6,11  these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.  These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

We have been looking at Joseph who experienced one negative situation after another.  Yet he responded faithfully and God blessed him.  Those circumstances, that none of us would choose, were God’s plan for him.  A lesson to learn is that God will do the same with us.  The circumstances of our lives are our testing ground.  Will we respond faithfully when we find ourselves in unpleasant, difficult or very negative situations?  Will our focus be upon the Lord rather than upon ourselves or our ‘problems’?

The Old Testament is such a gift to us.  It provides so much more than history or prophecy.  It teaches us God’s ways.  It shows us how much God has wanted – and wants – a people to be His own and live accordingly.  He wants a people that recognize His great love for them and then love Him in return.

The Lord wants a people that walk in His ways – who demonstrate from their lives that they belong to Him.  It has everything to do with how we live.  Do our hearts belong to Him?  Disobedience, complaining, anger, revenge, idolatry, rebellion, etc… have such negative consequences and such actions and attitudes communicate the very opposite message that should come from our faith in Christ.  Joseph is such an example of rightly responding in the good times and the bad.

Today’s verses focus our attention on His people in the Old Testament and what happened to them.  We are to look at their lives and see how they responded to God and to the situations they encountered.  Their situations repeatedly gave them opportunities to affirm that they were His.  We are seriously warned that they are examples for us to learn from.  We are not to make the same mistakes they did.

Will we recognize and reject the sinful responses that can work their way into our lives without us even being aware of them?  Will we respond like Joseph – no matter what we encounter?  We have seen Joseph time and again respond righteously to what life brought him.  Let us be inspired by his example to live our lives in faithfulness and righteousness thereby reflecting the love of our God to all.