Genesis 39:21-23
I’ve never been in prison, but I have been to a prison, to
visit a relative and it is a place of confinement, of guards, bars, barbed wire,
and gates that have one purpose, to take from you the freedom to do as you please. You are under someone’s control, and
you will abide by his or her rules.
You rise, eat, and sleep when you are told, and the keeper of the prison
may be kind or evil.
Young Joseph has gone from being sold by his brothers to a group
of Ishmaelites, who sell him as a slave to Potiphar the Egyptian; who made him
manager of his house and all he had, and Potiphar wife cries rape and now
Joseph is in prison. For how long,
no one knows, he may just rot in the king’s prison. Shall we pick-up the story in verse twenty-one; “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast
love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph
in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one
who did it. The keeper of the
prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the
Lord was with him. And whatever he
did, the Lord made it succeed.”
If that’s prison, sign me up! Joseph is being shown the steadfast love of God. His time with God is so great that
Joseph would not have traded places with the king. Prison with God’s steadfast love being poured out on him,
far exceeded anything Joseph could imagine. From a worldview, young Joseph got the screws put to
him, his no good brothers wanted to kill him, but instead sold him as a slave,
and his new master Potiphar was so impressed with his slave, that he put him
over all that he owned, and now it happens again in prison. Both Potiphar and the keeper of the
prison saw the hand of God all over Joseph, and both put him over what they had
control of.
If God is with you, if His steadfast love is all over you,
does it matter where you are? I
knew a lady who had cancer, and she said it was the best thing that ever happened
to her because God’s steadfast love renewed her everyday. It rebuilt her family and it renewed her relationship with
her husband. Is it because of our
friendship with the world, and the desires of the flesh, that we are not
accustomed to seeking the steadfast love of God?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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