Dr. Ron Sumners
September 27, 2009
What a radical change has taken place in Joseph's life! He, who was the object of the loving attention of a doting dad, is now the object curiosity to people in the market for a slave. The dreamer has hit rock bottom.
Joseph is about to discover that although he is a long way from everyone and everything that represents security, he is still hemmed in “behind and before” by God, and the hand of the God still guides him and holds him fast (Psalm 139:5, 10).
Some of our circumstances have changed over a period of time, but it is unlikely that any of us have been taken so low so fast.
Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites” (Genesis 39:1). This suggests a slave auction, an event that could not have been anything but ugly, distasteful, humiliating, and cruel for Joseph. Paraded on the slave block in full view of a leering crowd, perhaps stripped bare, he was offered for sale. There he stood, a teenager subjected to the prodding of a potential master.
Try to get a feeling for what Joseph was going through. He was a captive in a foreign country, unable to understand the words that were spoken to him. He could only read their eyes and try to figure out what they were thinking and planning.
Joseph didn’t have to wait long to learn his fate. He was taken into the home of Potiphar.
To put this man’s position in a modern context, we could say that Potiphar was the chief of Pharaoh’s secret police. He was in charge of dealing with political insurrections. People who plotted against the Pharaoh were taken into custody by Potiphar and his men, never to be heard from again.
Potiphar’s job was to remove threats to his boss. He was a powerful man and probably had the potential for cruelty. So, it is an understatement to say that the circumstances into which Joseph was thrust were less than ideal.
Years later, reflecting upon Joseph’s life, his father, Jacob, said, “With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility” (Genesis 49:23). This was a graphic picture of Joseph’s vulnerability as hostile forces took potshots at him. He was exposed, alone, fearful, and wondering and yet, in the center of God’s will.
Here we discover an essential and simple truth, which is this: There is no ideal place to serve God except the place in which He has set you down. There is no ideal job for you to hold, no ideal neighborhood in which to live, and no ideal church to join.
There are good jobs, good neighborhoods, and good churches, but no ideal ones. People who search for the ideal circumstances forget that the ideal and the perfect are reserved for heaven! They launch forth on a journey destined to end in disappointment.
Joseph’s life, at this point, was far from ideal. He may have been tempted to run away, give up, or become angry. But here we discover him making the most of his situation.
Responding to similar circumstances makes us want to run. We say to ourselves, If only I could get away for a while, maybe a weekend at the cabin or a few days at the beach.
Refreshment and a vacation may be of temporary help, but we can’t flee from ourselves. I don’t know about you, but my biggest problem is not my circumstances. My biggest problem is me!
Maybe we think, I never bargained for this. I never imagined being trapped in this mess. No, we probably didn’t. But God has chosen to set us down in this environment. Even in circumstances like those that surrounded Joseph, we can trace God’s hand.
It is immediately apparent that Joseph was under the protecting hand of God.
We can see this hand in the way Joseph went from a death plot to the pit, where he surely would have died, and from the pit to the back of a camel. Through all of this, he was still alive. Joseph wasn’t protected from the circumstances but in the circumstances. We often ask God to remove the problems from us or remove us from the problem. But most of the time what God does with His children is change their attitude toward the circumstances in which they find themselves.
God could have done things differently in Joseph’s life. But God purposed that “through many dangers, toils, and snares” He would fashion His servant for service and erase the blemishes in his character, even as he is doing with us.
Joseph would have agreed with the Psalmist when he wrote, “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:9-10). God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
When we find ourselves disappointed and broken and unable to alter our circumstances, we do well to go to the Bible.
Do you recall the experience of Moses leading the nation of Israel from Egypt? He was anxious and said to God, “You have not let me know whom you will send with me” (Exodus 33:12).
God said, “My presence will go with you.” Moses replied, “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us”? (33:15-16)
It is the accompanying presence of God in the life of His servant that makes the servant distinctive. Somehow it is apparent to people that there is a different dimension in the life of God’s servant; that dimension is the fact of His protecting presence. The Lord was with Joseph! (Genesis 39:2).
God also protected Joseph from human emotions that could easily have unraveled him. It is not overtly stated in the text, but I think we can say with confidence that God protected Joseph from the silent killers of resentment, self-pity, and bitterness. Based on what had happened to him by this point, Joseph was a prime candidate for any or all of those powerful and destructive emotions.
Surely, in those first nights of his slavery in Potiphar’s house, Joseph must have tossed and turned on his bed, his mind filled with confusion. Perhaps, on some nights, Joseph woke up in a sweat remembering the hatred in his brother’s eyes when they grabbed him and threw him into the pit. When he awoke, the rattling of the chains reminded him that it was because of his brothers that he was a captive in a foreign land. In moments like that, deep resentment can grow.
On other nights, Joseph may have dreamed that he was back at home with his father and his family and everything was fine again. He was laughing and talking with his family. And as he awoke, he returned to the reality of his circumstances. In the cruelty of missing his father and his little brother, Benjamin, Joseph could have buried himself in self-pity and resentment.
Some of us know what it is like to feel trapped by our circumstances, victimized by the cruelty or neglect or insensitivity of others. We feel flashes of resentment urging us to take revenge. Or we feel sorry for ourselves, or allow ourselves to become bitter.
How do we avoid these devastating emotions? We do so by seeking God’s protection from them. Joseph didn’t allow himself to become imprisoned behind the walls of resentment, revenge, self-pity, or bitterness. We must do the same. In the circumstances that each of us face, no matter how difficult the circumstance, we must ask God for the strength to resist bitterness and nourish a gentle heart.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”
You respond, “But I can’t.” No! You won’t! That’s always the problem. There is no command in the Word of God to which we have to answer, “But I can’t.” God never calls us to an action that he does not enable us to complete. If God says to get rid of a destructive emotion, we can be certain that He will supply the power of the Spirit that will enable us to do the job.
When we wallow in bitterness, self-pity, and resentment, we make a prison for ourselves. We cannot lay the blame at God’s feet. Joseph is a shining example of one who did not allow those emotions to develop.
Joseph’s body might have been chained, but his spirit was free. I think Joseph realized that his dreams plus the disaster that had befallen him were leading somewhere. He was determined not to waste this trial!
Joseph was not only protected, but God prospered him in his captivity. Genesis 39:2 says, “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.”
Any of us would love to have that written about us. But finish reading the verse: “And Joseph lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” God put Joseph into a position as a slave because He had lessons for His servant to learn and discoveries for him to make that could not have come his way under any other circumstances.
Joseph had lost his coat but not his character. If all he had going for him was a fancy coat, then he would have been finished when the coat was torn from his back. But there was character inside the wearer of that coat and God was going to refine and shape that character in the crucible of Egypt. A crucible is a melting pot where all the impurities and dross are burned away. I doubt if any of us can be pure before God until we have been through our crucible!
Because Joseph was a young man of godly character, somewhere along the line he must have made the decision; I am going to make the most of this!
The moment that Joseph made that decision was the day of his liberation. And the same is true for each of us! When we can look around at the place where God had put us and say, despite the difficulties, “I’m going to make the most of this for God’s glory,” we are free!
When Joseph made that decision, it impacted everything he did. He refused to do what would be expected of a captive in a foreign country, which is to do only the minimum necessary to get by. Joseph didn’t go around saying, “Sorry, me no speak Egyptian. Can’t understand what you are saying. Don’t know what you want.”
Joseph must have reasoned, everyone thinks that I am Potiphar’s slave. I am actually God’s slave. And since I am God’s slave, serving Potiphar, I’m going to be the best slave Potiphar ever had.
There is a lesson here that we need to see. Joseph’s witness was not in protesting the culture in which he lived. He wasn’t going to change the culture. That option wasn’t open to him. The only opportunity he had for witness was to be a good slave.
Of course, there are many times when a protest must be made. And Christians should have a voice in shaping the culture. But for most of us, the real opportunity to impact our world comes when we decide to be the most diligent, obedient, reliable, industrious, and conscientious servants we can be where God has placed us. That’s the commitment Potiphar received from Joseph.
Joseph did not have to tell Potiphar there was blessing on his life. “Potiphar saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did” (Genesis 39:3). Potiphar found himself saying, “You know, there’s something about this Hebrew kid we picked up in the market. I’ve had many slaves, but this young man is something special.” Oh, to be that kind of person in the marketplace of life!
The favor of God rested on Joseph. When God’s blessing is on your life, you won’t have to telegraph the news. It will be apparent even to the pagans. It certainly was to Potiphar!
A fable is told of two grasshoppers that were thrown into a pail of milk. The first grasshopper began immediately to sulk and give up, and he drowned in the milk. The second grasshopper began to kick like crazy and work hard at getting out of the pail. In the process, he churned the milk into butter, and then he walked out of the pail on top of that block of butter.
Put two people in the same jail cell and one will see only the bars on the window while the other will see the stars beyond the bars. Which would you see?
John Bunyan spent twelve years in a jail in Bedford, England. He was in jail because he refused to preach according to the rules of the day. He wasn’t a Church of England clergyman, but he loved to preach.
So, the authorities told him, “Bunyan, cut it out or we’ll put you in jail.”
Bunyan answered, “I can’t cut it out. I have to preach.” And he preached everywhere he went. So, they arrested and jailed him. He was in prison for twelve years.
Those were rotten circumstances. But within a short time, there was music coming from his cell. He had taken one of the legs of his three-legged stool and carved it into a flute.
He did something else in his cell. He wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, a book that has become a classic in Christian literature.
Talk about drudgery! There was a lot of room for self-pity in John Bunyan’s life. There was plenty of opportunity for self-pity for Joseph. There is a cause for self-pity in each of our lives. How will we respond?
Joseph didn’t need to tell Potiphar that the Lord was with him. He didn’t need to ask favors from his master. Joseph was granted favor by Potiphar. He realized that he had a good servant and he expressed his confidence in this young man. And Potiphar was delighted to do so, for the more he delegated to Joseph, the greater Potiphar was blessed.
Why? Because God had determined, for His purposes, that He would take Joseph to Egypt and protect, prosper, and promote him there. God’s hand was upon him, and the blessing spilled over to those who were around him, even the pagans.
This is the only explanation for what was happening in Potiphar’s house and fields. His investment portfolio was going through the roof, and his fields were producing as never before. Potiphar was being made to see what could happen with a life given over to God. It opened the possibility for Potiphar to sit down with Joseph and say, “Can you explain this to me?”
That’s the way it’s supposed to work. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says to us, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in Heaven.” When men see, they will ask. When they don’t see, there’s nothing to ask.
The roller coaster of Joseph’s life has plunged to the bottom of a pit, risen to the back of a camel, plunged again into Egypt, and now risen to an honored position in Potiphar’s house. But with the increase in his responsibility came a special vulnerability.
Most of us think that the next rung up the ladder is the spot to be. We think if I were to become the president of this company, if I were to be the chairman of the board, I would do this and that and have more of this and that, and we think that it would be wonderful.
The people I’ve spoken with who hold those higher rungs live with a unique vulnerability. There is the terrible, corrosive effect of carping criticism and the temptation to believe that you are really as good as your position suggests. And there is the fact that once you have “arrived,” people set their eyes on you and your position for all sorts of selfish reasons. Joseph experienced this after his promotion by Potiphar.
Joseph was now the buzz of the house. He was handsome, smart, powerful and respected. Everyone had a good word to say about Joseph: at least to his face!
So, we read, “Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me.’ But he refused” (Genesis 39:6-7).
Who’s to say which location was more difficult for Joseph? Was it in the pit where he faced the prospect of death, or was it the house where he faced temptation?
Here again, Joseph’s story reminds us that when we shun trials, we miss blessings. When all you have is sunshine, all you get is a desert. For most of us, most of the time, it is true that more spiritual progress is made through failure and tears than is made through success and laughter.
It is not that we need to go out and seek sorrowful circumstances so that God can bless us. But when such circumstances do come our way, God can work for our good and His glory!
We dare not try to manipulate the hand of God. Nor stay awake at night trying to make it all work out for good. If we belong to Him and have committed our lives to him, God is at work on our behalf. In believing this we may learn to view difficulties and disappointments, not as stumbling blocks but as stepping stones along the path of God’s providential care.
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