DOUBLE PURPOSE

“’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. ... But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’”
Genesis 45:5, 7

I am not sure how closely you have had to deal with death before. For me it has been only the death of my grandparents that I can remember. This past January I was given the honor of speaking at a funeral for someone dear to me. As I prepared for this moment, I allowed Adonai to lead me in what I was to say. What was it that even in this somber time would bring glory to the Father and honor to the family of this man? With this prayer, I began to look at his favorite Bible story. That story for him was when Yosef revealed himself to his brothers in Genesis 45.
The events leading up to this moment consisted of Yosef being sold by his brothers into slavery, wrongly accused by his master’s wife and sent to prison, and then forgotten while in prison after interpreting a dream for one of Pharaoh’s officials. It wasn’t until Pharaoh himself needed an interpretation that Yosef began to see his turning around coming. As he shared with Pharaoh the meaning of his dream, Adonai then placed Yosef into a position of status, giving him a title of second in command. According to J. I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, Adonai had ordered the events of Yosef’s life for a double purpose.
Packer defines this double purpose as such. The first piece is the individual’s own personal sanctification. Sanctification is defined as the state of growing in divine grace. In the life of Yosef we find sanctification dripping in his every move. When his brothers sold him, he was sanctified. When falsely accused of making an intimate advance, he was sanctified. While waiting in prison, he was sanctified. In each of these moments Yosef grew in his relationship with his God. He knew there was a purpose for his sufferings. He never turned back on Adonai, and because of this He honored him and placed him in a position of authority.
The second piece to a double purpose that Packer describes is the fulfilling of his appointed ministry. Yosef was destined. We see this in his dreams. The dream of crops bowing down or even the moon and stars, was an indication of the ministry position the Father would place Yosef in. And now, years later, having suffered so much ill fate and not quitting on Adonai, Yosef was being honored. But the dreams were not fulfilled until the famine spread and brought his brothers back to his doorstep. It was here that the double purpose finally made sense. Adonai not only opened the way for Yosef to be honored, but also had opened the way for His people to be saved.
Consider your own life. Do you have a double purpose? Does it seem like life is pressing you and you wonder what good can come from these struggles and strains? Do you feel like there is no hope at the end of the rope? For this man whose funeral I partook in, I could see his double purpose. Adonai had ordered the steps of his life to give me an example of a father’s heart for his children and to steer me in the directions that I must take in my faith. But the continuation of this purpose came and continues to come for me as I now know a new faith in my Abba Father. Adonai sent him ahead of me so that I may gain from his example, but also that in this example my faith would be strengthened. With this example and with this deeper level of faith, I am now also able to say that what has been meant for evil in the taking of this man, my mentor, and my true earthly father, Adonai still has been able to use for His good in the character of which I am growing to become. Now the baton is my hand to show a double purpose for those that follow after me.

Genesis 44:31 – 45:7