"Men of Faith"

If you want to see what a man of faith looks like, try to picture yourself living in the shoes of Joseph the son of Israel. Why Joseph? you might wonder. Understanding what is required to be a man of faith requires the vision into the future and the hope to see that vision come to life. This is something which takes a man beyond his circumstances, or the present place that he might find himself living in. Our lives do not always go the way that we envision or plan them to go; nor do we always understand the circumstances that we might be placed within. But with a vision for the future and the hope to get there, we live to face another day, no matter what circumstance we might find ourselves in. Joseph was a man that was destined to be a ruler, and he knew that from his youth. Although he may not have fully understood what those visions meant, he lived his life as someone who was prepared to be placed in the position that he was destined to become. There are two types of rulers: those that rule over other people because they want to rule over them, and those that rule over the affairs of others without wanting to rule over them, but rather wanting to serve them; Joseph was the later by circumstances. By the visions that he had as a child, many would have been pulled toward the first, and so his brothers had interpreted it so; maybe even Joseph himself had done that also, at least for a while. But it was the circumstances that he later found himself placed within, that generated the heart of a servant; and not just a servant, but a servant of all. Second in line to the most powerful man on the earth, yet even that man was subject to his words. This is something which went way beyond what he imagined as a child, which involved his brothers and even his father bowing down to him. Circumstances are just what they are: only moments in time that require our presence for the purpose of shaping our future... "O that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes!" (Psalm 119:5)