12. Trust God despite the outcome

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

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