“God was with Joseph, and he became wealthy while he was in the household of his master the Egyptian.”-Genesis 39:2
The statement “God was with Joseph” appears four times in Genesis Chapter 39.
This is to drive home the point that in spite of being sold into slavery by his brothers and placed in a foreign land that worshipped strange gods, YHVH, the God of Israel was still with him.
This should be tremendously reassuring to us.
Just because we find ourselves in bad circumstances does not mean God has abandoned us.
Human friends can always be found when a man is successful, but in time of trouble they tend to forsake him.
Not so with God.
God was with Joseph when he was a slave.
He was with Joseph when he was in prison.
And He was with Joseph when he became second in command next to Pharaoh over all Egypt.
God is with you too…protecting, controlling and guiding events.
Now here’s something important to remember.
While God has promised to never forsake us no matter what the circumstances, we must also reciprocate and NOT turn our backs on Him amidst our suffering.
This is a test I believe every believer will go through.
Yeshua Himself said “In this world, you will have trouble.“
He didn’t say “if you have trouble” or “you might have trouble“.
He promised us that we are going to have trouble.
But we should rejoice when trouble comes (I know, I know, easier said than done).
Because if we can maintain our faith and keep our heads help up high during the dark times, we will be rewarded.
Look, Joseph could have descended into total pessimism.
He could have said to himself,
“Look how God has screwed me over.
Well, screw him!
I’m gonna live my life my own way.”
And indeed many have taken that attitude and turned their backs on God due to some negative circumstance and/or feeling that life had turned out unfair for them.
If Joseph had been harboring a bitter attitude about his life’s circumstances when Potiphar’s wife offered herself to him, feeling spiteful he may have committed a vile adulterous act and disqualified himself from receiving the great blessings God was holding in reserve for him.
But instead, Joseph kept his faith and proclaimed,
“How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
And as a result, God blessed him tremendously.
There’s a lot we can learn from Joseph.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah?
Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger?
Poverty? Danger? War?
As the Tanakh puts it,
“For your sake we are being put to death all day long,
we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are superconquerors,
through the one who has loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor other heavenly rulers,
neither what exists nor what is coming,
neither powers above nor powers below,
nor any other created thing will be able to separate us
from the love of God which comes to us
through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
-Romans 8:35-39
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