God Won’t Leave You There: Joseph’s Story

The biblical Joseph’s path from slave to savior of Egypt is instructive to modern-day believers enduring hardships of their own, according to this flimsy offering. Bible teachers Lotz and Wright (coauthors of Jesus Followers), daughter and granddaughter of the late televangelist Billy Graham, recount how Joseph was sold to slavery by his scheming brothers and imprisoned in Egypt. After correctly interpreting Pharaoh’s dream as a harbinger of seven years of prosperity and seven years of famine, he stockpiled grain that helped save Egypt and his family from starvation. The authors use the story to contend that suffering is a means through which God “get[s] us where He wants us to be and develop[s] us into the people He created us to be.” With that in mind, they advise readers to stay alert to “the purpose the Lord may be preparing you for” and “stand firm... in your commitment to holiness.” Unfortunately, that’s as far as their insights go; most of the book reiterates this message, relating Joseph’s story in highly embellished fashion and stitching in platitudes (“People will fail us, but God never does”) and unrelated potshots at the queer community (Satan, the authors contend, is “relentlessly attacking young people through gender confusion”), among other topics. This fails to shed new light on the biblical story. (Mar.)