Yesterday we learned that: 1) Joseph adjusted to his new
lifestyle exceptionally well given the circumstances which may have appeared to
be hopeless. His attitude, faithfulness and
obedience to God allowed him to live in favor while serving as the head of Potiphar’s
household as a slave; 2) the characteristics of integrity, diligence,
dependability, leadership, etc. that Joseph was despised for by his brothers
were traits that helped him to excel and obtain recognition at this phase in
his life; 3) Potiphar’s entire household was blessed because of the favor on
Joseph’s life (e.g. property, money, crops, etc.); 4) Joseph was fine as aged
wine and Potiphar’s nameless wife was an undercover OG snap (aka, Cougar, aka
older woman on the prowl for youngsters) who was “on Joseph’s line” (aka she
wanted to have sex with Joseph); 5) He refused to compromise his values and commitment
to Potiphar his earthly master but primarily because of his commitment to obeying
God – at 17 years old. As a result of
his stand, he was thrown in jail, that’s where we left off. Generally speaking when a slave is found
guilty or suspected of disobedience they are tortured, killed and/or both, but
in this case, Potiphar threw him in jail.
Was is it because he was a weak slave master? Had his nameless wife cried foul before? Or was it the hand of God over Joseph’s life? Correct, it was the latter. God’s favor will cause us to show
up at the right place at the right time; it will cause people with the power,
ability and influence to help us and it will cause people to go out of their
way to help us, even those that spitefully use us including our enemies. Psalm
110:1 (NLT) The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor
at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making
them a footstool under your feet. You can catch up to the story by visiting my blog page: http://dailyflicker.blogspot.com/
Let’s pick up where we left off with Joseph being thrown
into Pharaoh’s jail after being accused by his slavethat is not this. Joseph was an Egyptian slave. You can imagine that he had similar feelings
to anybody else who was falsely accused except his would have been multiplied
by 150,000. There was no public defender; pending court
date; bail bondsmen; OR (release on your Own Recognizance) legal aid; prisoner advocates;
ACLU; Human Rights Commission; three meals and a cot; orange, blue or white uniforms, no phone
calls; money on his books; commissary on Thursdays or visits from family,
friends or “pot’nahs”. Did I mention
that Joseph was a slave at the mercy of his earthly master Potiphar, prison
officials, other prisoners in general population and on top of all of that, he
was PRETTY!!!! (aka strikingly handsome -- Genesis 39:6-7). Guys with pretty faces don’t generally do very
well in prison from what I hear.
·
Genesis
39:19-20 (The Message) When his master heard his wife’s story,
telling him, “These are the things your slave did to me,” he was furious.
Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the jail where the king’s prisoners
were locked up.
Most people would have probably lost it (and all hope) after
this second blow below the belt, assuming that they were being punished for
something they did wrong and if they were affiliated with a church, some of those
people would have volunteered to participate on the accusation committee. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly Christians
assume the worse instead of remembering that God allows us to go through many
challenges to build areas in our lives (faith, strength, courage, etc.) but he
also allows us to go through things to get us from one level to the next and if
we fail the test we repeat it very often in a different format. Quite naturally if we willfully sinned
against God there will be repercussions and he will discipline us accordingly just
as a parent would discipline a child for willful disobedience. Revelations
3:19 (NLT): I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and
turn from your indifference. Just
as no rational thinking loving committed parent would arbitrarily discipline
their child(ren) for no cause neither will our heavenly father. But make no mistake about it, if we need to
be disciplined we will get it lovingly.
·
Genesis
39:21-23 (The Message) But there in jail God was still with Joseph: He reached out
in kindness to him; he put him on good terms with the head jailer. The head
jailer put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners—he ended up managing the whole
operation. The head jailer gave Joseph free rein, never even checked on him,
because God was
with him; whatever he did God made
sure it worked out for the best.
Tania Not Tanya Nugget: All of the positive references in the scripture
above equal God’s favor but what is amazing is that EVERYTHING Joseph decided
to do was not only blessed, but God made sure he succeeded. There were no errors and blundering
mistakes. He can and wants to do the
same thing for us.
It appears that Joseph is a magnet to ill treatment but even
with the crappy treatment by others, Joseph still has favor with God. Have you noticed that there is not one
scripture text which refers to Joseph’s complaints, not one single time? While I am not in any position to assume
anything, it would be wrong to state that Joseph was a whiner, because we have
no documentation to support that statement.
How can someone suffer as much as Joseph and not complain? Well in my humble opinion there are a couple
of scenarios to consider: 1) God gave
Joseph the grace to face these challenges without complaining at all; or 2) he
didn’t verbalize his complaints to others, he “manned up” when in the presence
of others but when he was alone with God, he poured his heart out not
necessarily in the form of complaints but asking for his help, wisdom and
knowledge. I am more apt to lean towards
both scenarios: 1) God’s grace allowed Joseph to go through the fire like superhero;
2) because Joseph was human, he had to have a way to express his emotions with
someone he could trust, who better than God.
We are not privy to it because he talked to God privately about his
journey and concerns. That’s how God designed this journey, that we
seek him first, acknowledge him in all of our ways so he can direct our path,
but we seek our own path first and then when we can’t find it we want to lean
on God to bail is out.
Here’s Joseph as a young adult now about to face another
phase in life where he is about to experience the unknown. Now he has to learn another new culture, the
life of an inmate. Innocence or guilt is
irrelevant at this point because his master has passed judgment. Now he must quickly and accurately read the
other inmates to determine who he can and cannot talk to which requires that he
stay to himself initially and become a keen watchmen, determining the hierarchy
level, who the "shot caller" is, etc. Because he is a man of integrity respecting
other people’s property and talking about the stuff that happens behind “the
wall” isn’t an issue, but he has to remember that snitching in this environment
can get him “kilt”. His resolve to “keep
goin, keep goin, keep goin, keep goin” releases God’s favor in his life yet
again. Before you know it he was in charge
of the entire jail (like a 21st century jail house Trustee but
magnified by 200,000) and God blessed every cotton pickin’ thing Joseph as the “slave
prisoner” was in charge of.
This is a great place to stop because I’m out of time. We will pick it back up tomorrow.
In His Excellent Service
Tania not Tanya
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