Joseph, Part 3: The Lord Was With Joseph

Joseph, Part 3: The Lord Was With Joseph

[39:1-6a]

The Bible has 1100 chapters and every one is important.  But some seem to really stand out. For me, this is one of those outstanding chapters.

At the beginning of Genesis 39 Joseph has been hauled down to Egypt in the Ishmaelite caravan, taken to the slave market, and sold to an officer in the Egyptian military named Potiphar. I’m sure Potiphar himself did not bid on Joseph but one of his household stewards. Maybe another slave. Joseph is taken to Potiphar’s estate and put into the slave quarters.

I would like to try to enter Joseph’s mind on the evening of his first day as a slave: He has been the victim of a terrible crime. His own brothers have sold him into slavery. How could he have felt? Did he think that his father would come and rescue him after discovering the brother’s treachery? If so, it never happened. Did he remember his dreams? If so, what was to become of them? They didn’t include this. He is seventeen years old and now a slave in the household of an officer in Pharaoh’s army. Did he ask, “How can I trust God after He lets something like this happen to me?” My brothers and sisters. Especially my young brothers and sisters. God allows life to deal out terrible disappointments. Failure. Sin. Betrayal. Treachery. Each of you will have a unique cross to bear. When you find yourself victimized you have a choice to make. You can trust God to carry you through or you can turn back in bitterness and unfaithfulness. Subsequent events show us the choice Joseph made. But it had to be a really, really hard choice.

Verse 2 starts out with an astonishing statement: The Lord was with Joseph. Then in v 3: the Lord was with Joseph and caused all he did to succeed. 

If you are Joseph, in this moment do you feel the Lord is with you? He is whether you feel like it or not.

No matter what kind of catastrophe befalls you the Lord is with you. It will be 13 years before God’s plan for Joseph unfolds. For you it may be longer. But He is with you. Do not let catastrophe defeat you.

Let’s try to enter Joseph’s mind at the end of his second day of slavery. On the morning of day two he begins his life as a slave. In the early days at Potiphar’s house you have to wonder what his life was like. You know he had to start at the bottom and work his way up. Something remarkable has to be taking place in Joseph’s life. In the midst of this nightmare he steps up and provides outstanding service for his master. He has to have retained his faith in God. If anyone in the history of mankind had a right to abandon his faith it was Joseph. 

God was with him. Maybe the dreams of his youth stayed with him; maybe he was confident of their fulfillment. 

He had to be a hard worker. He had to have gotten along well with the other slaves. He must have treated them with graciousness and kindness. He must have done his work with excellence. Joseph’s brothers had been able to strip him of his coat but they couldn’t strip him of his immense capability and trust in God. You can always be confident that God will give you the exact, necessary capability to do His will at the time He wants you to do it.

When I read this passage for the umpteenth time I decided to go back and review my own life and think about the times the Lord was with Phil Mitchell. I said it out loud: “In this moment of my life, the Lord was with Phil.” And at another moment, “The Lord was with Phil.” You need to do the same. Go back through your life and ask God to help you identify those moments when He was with you.

Potiphar is watching all this. I’m sure he gets regular reports from his overseers, detailing the activity of his slaves. He probably had a lot of them. Managing them was a big task. But it is clear that in short order Joseph stands out. And when Joseph is probably still a teen Potiphar puts him in charge of the whole shebang. This massive, elaborate household of an Egyptian military leader now comes under the supervision of a young Hebrew slave. Joseph relieved his master of any need to think or worry about how his house was being run. Potiphar could devote himself completely to his military duties.

You would think that Joseph’s hardships had finally ended. But he has an even bigger catastrophe ahead of him. We pick that up in our next video.