It can be difficult to trust in God’s plan when it seems like everything and everyone is against you. But even amongst the greatest struggles, God is working on our behalf and His goodness will prevail. We see this time and time again in the Bible, especially in the story of Joseph.
But God is not done working. He still performs miracles today, like in the life of Musa, an influential Timothy for Equipping Leaders International and a modern-day Joseph.
It All Started with a Dream
The story of Joseph begins in Genesis chapter 37. From the very beginning, his brothers plot against him. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him (Genesis 37: 3-4).”
When the Lord started sending dreams to Joseph, his brothers’ hatred only grew.
“… ‘Listen to this dream I had: We were binding shears of grain out in the yield when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves fathered around mine and bowed down to it.
His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’” (Genesis 37: 6-9).
When hearing about this dream, his brothers became jealous, thinking of the power Joseph may one day hold. Shortly after Joseph started having his dreams, the dry season came, indicating it was time to send their family’s flocks to the grasslands. Joseph went with his ten older brothers to make the trip. This act alone shows us an example of Joseph’s faithful obedience. He faithfully followed his father’s instructions and honored him by helping his brothers despite their hostility. However, he would not return with his brothers from this trip.
The brothers soon created a plot to kill their brother on the trip. “Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other. Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say tat a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams ( Genesis 37:19-20).”
The oldest brother, Ruben, felt a great responsibility for Joseph despite his strained feelings toward his brother. He convinced his brothers not to kill him but to sell him to the Midianite merchants for a merger sum. The brothers tore his ornate robe of many colors and covered it in goat’s blood. As the merchants took Joseph to Egypt to work as a slave, his brothers returned to their father with the ruined robe. His father believed an animal had killed him and mourned deeply for his lost son.
Musa’s story is not far off from Joseph’s.
In 2000, Musa began having dreams like Joseph. In these dreams, he would hear John 14:6 repeated, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Musa grew up in Baiima, a small town in Sierra Leone with his father, nineteen brothers and sisters, his father’s five wives, aunts, and uncles. His family was deeply rooted in the Muslim faith. In fact, his father built a mosque in Baiima and was helping him prepare to become the Imam, which is someone who leads prayer and reads the Quran in Arabic during services in the mosque.
Since Musa did not grow up in the Christian faith, he did not understand the verse he was hearing in his dreams. He met with a Christian pastor in his town to talk about the dream and ultimately converted to Christianity. When his father found out, he was furious. He cast Musa out of his home and the town.
Joseph and Musa both came from large families that held big dreams for them. However, God had other plans. The Lord revealed parts of these plans in dreams that he sent to Joseph and Musa. The actions these men took after their dreams lead them down their new path, the one God intended and created for them.
A New Beginning for Joseph and Musa
After Joseph was sold to the merchants and brought to Egypt, he was enslaved. However despite his circumstances, “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes (Genesis 39:2-4).” Joseph was quickly put in charge of the other servants.
During this time, others would come to him with dreams. He was able to interpret them and all of his interpretations came true. So two years later, when Pharoah started having dreams as well he sent for Joseph. “Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can interest it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. ‘I cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharoah, ‘but God will give Pharoah the answers he desires (Genesis 41:15-16).” So Pharaoh told Joseph his dream.
Joseph told Pharaoh that God was giving him instructions in his dreams. He said seven good years of harvest were coming but they would be followed by seven years of severe famine. With this knowledge, Pharaoh knew he would need to put a wise man in charge of Egypt to help preserve the fruitful harvest to carry the land through the upcoming famine. He chose Joseph. “You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you ( Genesis 41:40).”
Similarly, the Lord stayed with Musa like he stayed with Joseph. After Musa was exiled, he went to a nearby village of Dura to finish high school and plant a church. The missionaries there learned of Musa’s evangelistic zeal.
They funded him to attend the African Bible College in Liberia where he graduated with a double major in Bible and Education. God equipped Musa with the resources he needed to help His people and helped Musa gain great favor in his new town.
Good Things to Come
Just as the Lord told Pharaoh, an extreme famine came to the land. People came from all across the land to seek help from the Pharoah. Thankfully, since he had heeded to the Lord’s instructions and with Joseph’s efforts, they were able to preserve grain from the seven abundant years to sustain the land. People traveled from all over to buy food from Pharoah, even Joseph’s family.
When his brothers journey to Egypt to buy grain, Joseph recognized them immediately but his brothers did not recognize him. Joseph gave orders to fill their sacks with grain and to put each man’s silver back in his sack. Despite his brothers’ actions, Joseph was still looking out for his family.
The famine continued. So, when Joseph’s family ran out of the food they bought from him, their father sent his sons back to Egypt to purchase more. This time Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers. “… ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do ot be angry with yourselves for selling me here; because it was to save lives that God set me ahead of you. For two years now there has been feminine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and repeating. 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 45:4-7).
Despite all of the turmoil and strife Joseph endured, God’s plan for abundance and forgiveness prevailed. Just like God had a plan for Joseph, he also had a plan for Musa.
Musa’s family and hometown heard of his new life. They were impressed and wanted to learn more about what he was able to accomplish in Dura. So much so that the Muslim ruling authorities called him to a meeting where they commended him and asked Musa to run for the highest elected office in Baiima, town chief.
Musa listened to their promptings and the promptings of God. He ran and won. He is now the first Christian chief of Baiima.
God is not done working in the lives of his people. His goodness and glory will prevail just like in the lives of Joseph and Musa!
