Joseph at Potiphar's (Genesis 39)

It is hard for people to really read the story of Joseph independent of the whole. We know where the story is headed, and that clouds our understanding of details along the way. Try placing yourself in Joseph’s shoes without all the meta-knowledge.

At seventeen he is sold into slavery by his brothers. What must that have felt like? Here we have a kid who had had visions of greatness. He had understood that God had great plans for his life. His whole family was going to bow down to him. Being sold into slavery must have been quite a shock. Not to mention, it had to be super unpleasant.

He lands in servitude at the house of Pharaoh’s captain of the guard. That was probably a nice household to be in if you had to be in one. And, even though we learn quickly that he rose to be in charge of the whole household, don’t think for a minute that that happened quickly. We will later learn that Joseph would be in Potiphar’s house and prison for 13 years. The servitude probably lasted about a decade before he was thrown in prison. That is a long time to be a slave. And that is what he was. A slave in charge of other slaves is still a slave.

On top of all the rest of his hardships, Joseph has to deal with the difficulty of his master’s wife. She pursues him relentlessly. How hard must that have been? Imagine having to navigate the challenge of rejecting her without raising the anger or suspicions of the master! In the end, Joseph loses in this no-win situation and gets falsely accused of something he did not do and gets thrown in prison.

Even knowing as we do that this is all a part of God’s plan, it had to have been a huge test of Joseph’s faith. Based on the theology of most western Christians today, I would wager that a majority of us would fail this test. We have been taught that God does not want suffering or hardship for His people. We have been told that following Jesus is the key to the “good life.” Clearly the Bible has a different message. God’s plan often sends His people into not just difficult, but impossible situations. It is the very nature of God’s plans that He sends us to places and assigns us tasks that we cannot hope to handle. At least not on our own. We need His help every step of the way.

So, if you want to walk with God in His plans for you, don’t follow the path of least resistance—least pain and suffering. Don’t look for the “open door” that you can just walk through. Go where He takes you and stay true to what you know He expects of you, regardless of the circumstances.

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