Jr. Tree of Life
Unfairness and the Faith-Rest-Drill Part 5
05/10/2020

God delivers Joseph’s family and Joseph forgives them.
Genesis 41-42 & 43

Promise Of God
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19

Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)

Last week we saw that Joseph had waited and waited for over two years to get out of jail. His hair grew long and his clothes were very dirty. Can you imagine how hard it was for him never being able to do anything fun? He still kept on obeying and doing a good job anyway through it all.

What would you do if your parents told you to pull up all of the weeds in the backyard? Would you do your best job or would you pull a few weeds and then go inside and lie on the floor and play a video game? Part of your job is to obey your parents right away and do the best job possible. Do it as if God asked you personally. If you do this, you will be an invisible hero.

God decided it was time to rescue (deliver) Joseph. He gave Pharaoh two messages through dreams that he could not figure out. Joseph was brought out of jail to help explain the dreams to Pharaoh. God told Joseph what the dreams meant. God gave Joseph understanding to make the dreams clear.

Joseph told Pharaoh that there would be seven years where plenty of food would be grown and everyone would have more than enough to eat. Next dream, there would be seven years where hardly any food would grow (famine) and there would not be enough food to eat.

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19

The Pharaoh, amazed that Joseph was the only one who could tell him what his dreams meant, decided right away to free Joseph from jail. Pharaoh even made him the second in charge of all Egypt. He got to dress in fancy clothes and drive in a chariot. His new job was to gather up food when there was extra, so there would be enough to go around during the years when there was not enough (called a famine). Joseph even got married and had two boys. I bet he was glad to have a family now.
For seven years Joseph saved up and stored so much grain that he lost track of the amount. Then the famine started and people all over the world didn’t have enough food to eat. Many of them started traveling to Egypt to buy food. They were very hungry.
One day Joseph looked at the people waiting in line for food and what do you think he saw? Was it a dinosaur? How about a mummy? Nope, and it was not a purple elephant either, it was his brothers who desperately needed food!
Remember how Joseph’s brothers had been mean to him when he was a kid. Pushing him into a pit and even sold him like an animal. It had been over twenty years since he had seen his family. Joseph looked extremely different now and his brothers did not recognize him, but Joseph remembered them.
When they came into the city, guess what they did? They bowed down to him! When they bowed, Joseph remembered the dreams he had when he was a boy living in Canaan with them. The dreams both showed how he would be the boss over his brothers and they would bow down to him. God always keeps His promises. Those dreams were a promise to Joseph that God would rescue him, even though Joseph did not know when or how. Joseph trusted God’s plan!
What do you think Joseph did? Was he mad or did he want to punch them? Do you think he wanted throw them in jail? Maybe he would just let them starve.
Joseph didn’t do any of that mean stuff because he knew that God never ever wants us to stay mad when other people hurt us. He wants us to rebound and recover by using the faith-rest drill. Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive, and forgive some more. God always forgives you every time you sin which is the bad things you think, say and do. You will never be happy if you stay mad all of the time.
Joseph decided to forgive his brothers for all of the pain they caused him. He forgave them, and then God did something really fantastic for Joseph. He rescued Joseph’s whole family including his dad Jacob, and his little brother Benjamin and all of his cousins. They all got to live in Egypt with Joseph and had plenty of food. Joseph was incredibly happy to see all his family again.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Boys and girls, we have been studying the faith-rest-drill for a while now. Let’s try to remember what we should do when somebody is mean to us. First you need to rebound and then recover by using the faith-rest-drill. Keep on practicing it every day so that you will not forget it.
Faith- Rest Drill
1. Think of a Bible verse or a promise from God.
2. Think of a reason to trust God.
3. Relax and enjoy your day because God will take care of everything

Here are a few reasons to trust God. Try to remember them.
He is Sovereign- He has big plans for you. He wants you to be an invisible hero.
He is Justice- He is your go to person, when people are mean to you. He is the only fair one of the universe.
He loves and forgives you every time you sin.
He is omniscience- He sees everything that happens to you and knows when someone hurts you.
He is omnipotent-He is more powerful than any superhero. He will come to your rescue.