“The Lord was with Joseph” Genesis 39:2a
“But the Lord was with Joseph” Genesis 39:21a
“because the Lord was with Joseph” Genesis 39:29b
The damp, cold walls oozed into the souls of its inhabitants. Their cold hard appearance seemed to speak out loud of how little they truly cared. The sounds that echoed off those uncaring walls did just as much psychological damage, slipping into the minds of its occupants and finding quick purchase in the seemingly endless duration of each day. The screams, agony made manifest, were shared by all, a community of suffering made available to all, shared by all, and forced upon all. Joseph thought of the juxtaposition of his new prison home versus his old palatial home. The walls of Potiphar’s palace were polished white marble, gleaming in the Egyptian sunshine, casting playful shadows upon the rich granite floors. The vast open windows of the palace brought in the fresh currents off the Nile, the smell of the rich, damp silt constantly reaching his nose. And the sounds of the palace were of silence, a place that offered its inhabitants a place to ponder and pontificate at length. As Joseph wandered deeper into the realm of his strange, unfortunate circumstances, his heart overpowered his mind and he drifted into song. In the midst of his stark contrast, He simply offered a song to the Lord. For even though his surroundings had changed radically, his company had not. Joseph knew the Lord was with him.
The saga of Joseph is the biggest sweeping drama in all of God’s Word. Covering an expansive 13 chapters and 10,940 words, not only does it receive massive page time in God's Word, it also presents one of the most beautiful pictures of what it truly means to live for Christ no matter your circumstances. You see, this life can and will take you many places. Possibly to palaces and possibly to prisons, but for the child of God one thing is certain…wherever the child of God goes, God goes as well.
For most, it is an easy task to praise God and feel his presence in the marble lined halls of the palace. The real question is, as you find yourself sitting in the dismal dark of the prison, how do you find and focus on the presence of God? Instead of simply praising Him and enjoying His presence on the mountaintop, how do you do just the same as you are in the darkest of valleys? You see, the same God that was with Joseph in that Egyptian prison, loving him and showing him favor (Gen 39:21) is the same God that exists in this day. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and has not and will not change. (Hebrews 13:8) So, if you find yourself struggling to see or feel the presence of God in your current dark circumstances, it’s not because He’s not there, it’s because you’re no longer as sensitive to His presence. And in my plethora of difficult circumstances on the mission field, this is how I seek God no matter where He may place me.
1) Seek Him with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13) The truth is, we have a tendency to turn from God when we feel He has turned from us. It’s rather ironic but our human condition is one that so often abandons God just when we need Him most. Sure, praise Him when all is perfect on the mountaintop, but you must also desperately seek His face like never before when you find yourself in the hopelessness of a dark valley. And you will find Him when you seek Him with all of your heart. The thought here is of a person on their knees crying out to their maker and Savior, begging not for His rescue from their situation, but for His embrace within it. And when I find myself here, I seek Him by every means He has made available to us to connect with Him…His Word, prayer, fellowship, and service. Folks, don’t wait for God to come rescue you out of your valley, get busy with a yearning heart and enjoy His presence right where He has you.
2) Get out of yourself. Stop seeing your current circumstances from a selfish perspective. If God only gave you exactly what you wanted in this life you would be in a heap of trouble right now. Friends, above all our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) What we ultimately want in this life serves us, benefits us the most, and caters to the desires of our hearts…deceitful hearts. Praise God that His plan for those that call upon His son Jesus as Savior are guided by God’s perfect heart, not our deceitful ones. So often I share the gospel with people and they are so angry that God hasn’t given them their heart’s desire every day of their life. I say praise God that He doesn’t! This is a crucial step to seeing your valley not as an unnecessary step, but one that God sees as necessary. God promises to work out everything for His good (Romans 8:28) but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some lowpoints along the way. Think about it like a line graph that always trends up even though there are low points along the way. Focus on the overall slope of the graph, not the individual low points. And in the midst of that graph you will not know or understand it all, after all, God’s ways are higher than ours and our thinking is light years below His. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
3) Sing a song. I know what you’re saying here, Dan has finally gone off the rails. Well, maybe, but in a good way. You see, when we’re in the dungeons of this life, the easiest thing to do is start a pity party for one and forget that God is still right beside you. Recall Paul and Silas’ behavior when they got thrown into the slammer in Philippi for derailing an idol dealer’s profit machine…they prayed and sang worship songs to the Lord. Paul and Silas stayed close to Christ regardless of their circumstances and as a result the other prisoners heard the audible tune of their faith. And in the next verse of that story, they are jailbroken by an earthquake and the jailer and his entire family come to know the Lord as their Savior. Folks, if Paul and Silas had the desires of their heart, I guarantee you they would not have checked themselves into a Phillipi prison just for the breakfast buffet. But in the perfect plan of God, a small season in prison allowed them to lead an entire family to a heavenly home for eternity.
Today Christian brother or sister, no matter where your feet may fall, whether it be a palace or a prison, rest well in knowing that the Lord is by your side, is in control, and will work your mess into a masterpiece. Your job is not to figure out what went wrong, plan your escape, or start the blaming. Your job is to simply get close to God, stay close to God, and sing His praises. He was with Joseph, He was with Paul, He was with Abraham, and that same God is with you today.
Get close to God…He’ll work out the rest. ~ Dan
“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 NLT
