JOSEPH: ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY

The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian – Genesis 39:2

The fascinating tale of the slave-boy who rose to be Prime Minister of the most powerful nation of his day, is a delightful mosaic of divine providence. The alternating cycles of adversity and prosperity served to augment the hidden strengths and excellences of Joseph’s nature and his almost flawless character. Joseph submitted to the Perfect Potter, to process his destiny through phases of Persecution, the Pit, Potiphar’s house, Prison, and finally the Pharaoh’s Palace (Psa.105: 16-24).

First was the Persecution phase, the season of opposition against his life’s vision. The benefits of a superior home and the handicap and favoritism of an indulgent father earned him the ill-will of his older brothers. His imprudent sharing with the whole family, dreams that suggested his future greatness and exaltation, proved the last straw that turned the brothers’ hot envy into malicious hatred and murderous plotting: “they hated him the more for his dreams, and for his words” (Gen.37:8).

Next was the Pit. Jacob’s concern for his sons pasturing their flocks near infamous Shechem caused him to dispatch Joseph to check on their welfare (Gen.37:12-14). This errand sparked up a chain of events which culminated in his incarceration and agonizing experience of hours of hunger and hopelessness in the dry pit. The pit signifies the place of prayer where he must have learnt to further trust in God’s grace and mercy. The brief kindling of hope as he was drawn up was dashed when he was sold to the Midianites (Gen.37:18-28). His sale as a fettered slave to the chief of Egypt’s royal bodyguard was but the next step in this wavy journey of destiny.

With Potiphar, Joseph now lived in the precincts of the palace, surrounded by prosperity, pomp and luxury. Seeming advancement; but he was still only a slave over slaves. Yet, God’s Presence made the difference: God describes Joseph the slave as a successful or prosperous man (v.2). God’s favour and his own integrity won him the trust of his master’s household (v. 34). But prosperity comes with peculiar tests. Suddenly, he encountered the most subtle temptation of his life – sexual allurement from Mrs Potiphar! She, herself a slave to sin, used all her seduction – looks, words and acts – to lure him into immorality. Joseph escaped the snare by his steadfast refusal to entertain any suggestion that would induce him to sin against God (v.9). He gained victory by taking to his heels from the zone of temptation (v.11).

Joseph paid a heavy price for his purity. His magnificent moral victory was followed by false accusation and prison sentence! The supreme lesson which meets and impresses us at every stage of Joseph’s journey is: the manifestation of God’s grace. In adversity he trusted his God and waited God’s time. In prosperity he leaned upon his God and found His grace sufficient. Whatever the cycle of life you may be passing through, may you never dissappoint God's expectation in Jesus name.