SUPERHEROES: JOSEPH AND GOD’S BIG PLAN

On Sunday we started a new series exploring Biblical superheroes. Over the next few months we are going to look at some remarkable characters throughout the Bible, and how God used them

Today we looked at my superhero, a man called Joseph.

I asked the children, what attributes you need to be superhero, here are some of the answers:

• A cape or costume
• A special talent or gift, or calling/mission
• To be courageous or brave
• To always help others/be selfless.

So why is Joseph a superhero? Could he fly? No, he was just a normal young man. But God had a special plan for him.

Before we went any further, we played a game. It was a game of guess the picture, everyone was shown two photos -a close up on an eye and a dandelion, which were covered in small squares of paper – you could pick a number and then try and guess what the big picture was.

Well Joseph’s life was a bit like that game. It’s sometimes hard to see the big picture or to know what is going on when you just see the micro, the day-to-day. His life was a rollercoaster of good times and a lot of bad times when he must have thought ‘why is God letting this happen to me?’, but he knew God was in control, God had a big plan for him.

We took a rapid overview of Joseph’s life and each chapter was represented as a piece of a puzzle:

1. Joseph’s life started well. Joseph’s father thought he was amazing. Joseph had a special gift of hearing from God in his dreams – and God promised that Joseph would be important, he even had a special coat.
2. But Joseph’s brothers didn’t like this, so were pretty horrible to him.
3. Eventually Joseph ends up in Egypt and gets an important job, things are looking up – but then it all goes wrong and he ends up in prison – but the bible tells us God was with Joseph all this time!
4. Then things take a turn, Joseph helps Pharaoh understand his dream about an imminent famine.
5. Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge – he becomes the most important man in the land.
6. Then when his brothers had no food, they go to Joseph to ask for help, he could have turned them away, but her forgave them – and helped them.

This was all part of God’s big plan for Joseph, in Genesis 45:5-7 he says ‘… 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…. to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance…’

What is amazing is that Joseph forgave his brothers and never says ‘I wish all this hadn’t happened’– instead he saw that God had a bigger plan for him, all the ups and downs were part of the bigger picture.

The challenge is for all of us to trust that God is in control– even when it seems that life isn’t going well.

The bible says: ‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the LORD(Jeremiah 29:11-13)

So just like Joseph – God has a plan for each of us.

And do you know what all superheroes have in common? They are all normal people – just like you and me. Batman was just a man called Bruce Wayne, Wonder Woman was Diana Prince. Being a superhero, isn’t just for special chosen people, we can all be superheroes. Each of us, like Joseph, are God’s Superheroes and we each have a plan to do God’s work – to love, to be kind, to do what is right.

To remind us of this, everyone got a special badge.

We ended by praying:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the story of Joseph. And we thank you that you have a plan for each of our lives, Lord help us – that when things aren’t going so well, we’ll know that you are with us. Amen.