"I am Joseph!"

Why was Joseph so great?

He was great because of his faith in God, which manifested itself in a magnanimous attitude toward others and his magnificent attitude toward difficulties. A strong faith leads to a good attitude. When those two essentials are in place, troubles become challenges to face not reasons to quit.

Elbert Hubbard, an American writer early in this century, once wrote, "The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure contemptuous treatment without resentment." Joseph passed that test with flying colors.

As we pick up his story, we come to what seems to be a rather uneventful incident. In fact, Martin Luther had trouble with Genesis 44 and once wondered why the Spirit of God took the time to preserve such a trivial thirty-four verses. Why indeed. The truth of the matter is that it is in the trivial and mundane details of life that our attitude is tested the most. Most of life is not "super-fantastic"! Much of life is just a cut above toothpaste -- just plain, garden-variety, ordinary stuff, not that much to write home about.

Joseph knew this. He had seen his own attitude tested in high places and low, in significant scenes of high drama and down in the dregs of deep despair. But perhaps his greatest test was in the wait of the long haul. He wanted to see in his brothers some of the same attitude that God had kindled within him -- a powerful faith in God and a positive response to others.

~Inspiration from: Joseph - A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness
Charles R. Swindoll