we can become consumed,

vain and bitter by our own passion. 

Envy eats nothing but its own heart

The fastest way to despair is by going to the land of

comparisons and Envy.

 Most of the time we Envy one quality about a person,

and we presume the rest of their qualities are as perfect

as the one we want. That's usually not the case.

 Comparing one's insides with another's outsides

is a waste of precious time.  

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those

who may appear more fortunate than we are,

we should count our blessings and be the best we can be.

Joseph had a difficult journey.

This young man was hated 

for being the object of his father's affection

and for having a gift that was given to him by God.

When he shared his dream with his brothers,

he was not trying to set himself above his brothers.

He was simply sharing and hoping that

he was going to receive clarity about his dream. 

Joseph's brothers did not like his dreams

because they thought Joseph felt 

he was better than they were. 

They hated him even more.

Have you ever been in a place like this?

A place where you were not trying to brag or boast, 

but you simply needed clarity? 

In ancient times, dreams were a serious matter,

treated with respect.

God often used dreams to tell of some future event,

or warn people of approaching times of crisis.

Those who were able to interpret dreams quickly

rose to positions of importance within the empire. 

 So as the story goes...

a few days later Joseph's father asked him 

to check on his brothers.

They were in the fields quite a distance away.

So Joseph went to find them.

When the brothers saw Joseph in the distance,

they knew him by his bright garment;

and one said to another: 

"Look, that dreamer is coming!

 They began to talk to each other about

 how they could get rid of him.

Come, let us kill him, and throw his body into a pit,

and tell our father that some wild beast has eaten him;

and then we will see what becomes of his dreams."

When Reuben, Joseph's oldest brother, heard this 

he felt more kindly toward Joseph.  

He said, "Let's not kill him, 

just throw him in a well out here in the field."

He said this because he was secretly planning 

to come back and rescue Joseph

when the other brothers had left.

So when Joseph came to them,

they took off his beautiful robe

and they threw him in an empty well. 

Jealousy can be blinding.

Afterwards, Joseph was escorted to Potiphar's place. 

Joseph started out as a slave,

but God was with Joseph 

and He helped him do everything right.

So Potiphar made him his helper,

and put him in charge of everything that he owned.

 Potiphar's wife lied about Joseph to her husband,

so Potiphar had Joseph put into jail.

  Occasionally, as we climb up the next rung of the ladder

 we may encounter weak steps

that will try to cause us to fail and fall.

This was clearly an attempt 

for Joseph to do both. 

When the cup bearer was freed 

he forgot about what Joseph did.

So Joseph stayed in jail for two more years.

Until one day the Pharaoh had a dream,

and nobody could explain it to him.

The cup bearer then remembered

 what Joseph had done for him,

and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh.

"Can you understand dreams?"  Pharaoh asked.

"I can't, but God helps me." Joseph replied.

After Pharaoh told him his dream Joseph explained,

"God is warning you.

There will be seven years when nothing will grow

and there won't be any food for anyone."

"What can I do?" Pharaoh asked.

"God has shown you what to do.

There will be seven years before the bad years

that will be very good.

So good that there will be extra food for everyone.

So you should save a little bit of each years harvest,

that way you will have enough to get you through the bad years,"

Joseph said.

Pharaoh believed all that Joseph told him,

and made him governor of all the land of Egypt.

God was still with Joseph in jail.

Joseph organized the land 

and set up a system for collecting grain.

The seven years of plenty soon passed by,

 and then came the years of need.

In all the lands around people were hungry,

and there was no food for them to eat;

 but in the land of Egypt everybody had enough.

Most of the people soon used up 

the grain that they had saved:

many had saved none at all, 

and they all cried to the king to help them.

"Go to Joseph," said King Pharaoh, "

and do whatever he tells you to do."

Then the people came to Joseph,

and Joseph opened the storehouses,

and sold to the people all the grain that they wished to buy.

And not only the people of Egypt came to buy grain,

but people of all the lands around as well,

for there was great need and famine everywhere.

And the need was as great in the land of Canaan,

where Jacob lived, as in other lands.

Jacob was rich in flocks and cattle, and gold and silver;

but his fields gave no grain,

and there was danger that his family and his people would starve.

And Jacob, who was now called Israel also,

heard that there was food in Egypt, 

and he said to his sons:

"Why do you look at each other, 

asking what to do to find food?

I have been told that there is grain in Egypt.

Go down to that land, and take money with you,

and buy grain, so that we may have bread, 

and may live." 

People came from all countries 

to buy grain from Joseph,

because the whole world was in need of food.

  Some of those people were Joseph's brothers.

They did not know him, as a grown man, dressed as a prince,

and seated on a throne.

It had been almost twenty-three years

 since they had sold him,

but Joseph knew them all, 

as soon as he saw them.  

He resolved to be sharp and stern with them,

 not because he hated them,

but because he wished to see what their spirit was,

and whether they were as selfish, and cruel,

and wicked as they had been in other days.

They came before him, and bowed, 

with their faces to the ground.

Then, no doubt,

Joseph thought of the dream 

that had come to him while he was a boy,

of his brothers' sheaves bending down around his sheaf.

He spoke to them as a stranger, as if he did not understand their language. 

After a few meetings with his brothers he could not keep it in any longer

and Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph!  Is my father alive?" 

But his brothers couldn't answer him because they were afraid. 

Then Joseph said, "Come here.  I am your brother, the one you sold! 

Do not worry, and do not be angry at yourselves for selling me,

because God has put me here to save people from starving."

So his father, his brothers,

and their families came to live in Egypt with Joseph,

and they had all the food they needed.

Envy shoots at others and wounds itself.

 Rather than envying another's good fortune;

May we always remember

 and never forget:

True happiness is not attained by things, 

but by a personal relationship with God.