Last time we saw how Joseph did the
honorable thing. He was in charge of Potiphar's house and had great
responsibilities. He was truly doing well for himself in a foreign
land and God was blessings him. But unfortunately Potiphar's wife
also thought that Joseph was doing well and because he was a
handsome young man, she wanted him all to herself. Joseph could
have easily given in to her request and she didn't just try once,
no, she continued for days on end, nagging at him to be with her.
Finally one day she saw her chance when no one was inside the house
and she caught him by his garment. Joseph did the right thing and
fled outside, once again not giving in to her temptations. This
made her so mad that she screamed and once men came running into
the house she made up stories about Joseph:
"See, he has brought in to us a
Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out
with a loud voice. And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my
voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and
went outside." Genesis 39:14, 15
Naturally Potiphar was furious. He
didn't even consider that there was another side to the story or
that his wife might be lying. He immediately threw Joseph into
prison and not just any prison; he threw him into the prison where
the king's prisoners were confined. Poor Joseph, he simply did the
right thing, he followed God and tried to be the best that he can
be in the given circumstances. He was doing so well and now because
he had integrity and resisted Potiphar's wife, he was thrown into
prison. Poor guy, he must have been devastated. Everything was just
starting to look up for him and in one moment, he was at the lowest
point that he could be.
The same can happen to us. We might
be doing what God has placed on our hearts to do, we might be
speaking the truth whilst everyone else is covering up, we might
expose certain situations at work, we might say no to certain
positions where we are required to have a certain amount of
dishonesty, we might say no to parties where we know that it might
get out of hand. And even though we do what is right and stand tall
in that, things might look dismal to us at first. We might be
shunned by people, lies might be fabricated against us, we might be
isolated, we might be demoted at work, and we might not see any
progress at all after standing up for God. This might all happen
just like it did to Joseph. But what gives me hope is the
following verses in the Bible right after Joseph was thrown into
prison:
"But the Lord was with Joseph
and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to
Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever
they did there was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look
into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord
was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper."
Genesis 39:21-23
Isn't it encouraging? Despite
Joseph being at the lowest point of his life, the Lord was with him
and made whatever he did prosper. The Lord never left Joseph's side
even when he was at his lowest point. In fact God blessed him
because he had been honorable with Potiphar's wife and He
orchestrated his life in such a manner that he was exactly at the
right place to be honored and lifted high by Pharaoh.
God will be with you too, when you
walk the honorable path. Things might not work out as you would
have envisioned it, but if you stay close to God it will work out
even better than you might have hoped. The God of the Universe is
on your side and will orchestrate the events in your life to work
out for your good. It might not look that way at the beginning, but
stick to your guns and follow God no matter what. You will be so
glad that you did.
Father God, thank you that we can
entrust our lives to You. You are our God and King, our everything.
We want to follow You no matter what the world throws at us. Please
help us to stand strong and to persevere despite hard and unfair
circumstances. We place our lives into Your hands. In Jesus' Name.
Amen