Genesis 39:20 b. – 23 “While Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden, who put all those held in the prison under Joseph’s authority, so that he was responsible for all that was done there. The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him and gave him success in whatever he did.”
Hauled off to prison on false charges of attempting to rape his mistress, Joseph has two choices: he can either sit there nursing his hurts or he can forgive and go forward. Pity parties with lots of sulking and unforgiveness leave you unfit for anything else; those nights in prison can get really long and there’s plenty of time to brood if you choose to do so.
Resentment and unforgiveness can feel so good, so RIGHT! Once we begin compiling lists of offenses others have committed against us, we can simply add each new day’s worth of wrongs to the list. But the more we concentrate on how wounded we have been, the less we are able to get beyond those wounds. A victim mentality feeds on itself and creates more victims; those whom we resent become victims of our resentment and our hatred.
Perhaps during those long nights in prison, Joseph begins to remember his family and gets a little homesick. In the stillness, Joseph remembers every time he pestered his older brothers or carried lies about them to their father. Joseph remembers the anguish in the eyes of his brothers who were sons of concubines as they realized each day that they were second class citizens in the family. After managing Potiphar’s household and the prison, Joseph has a much clearer idea of what it takes to be a leader and how destructive it can be to have someone bent on undermining all those around him. For years Joseph had delighted in being the favorite; only now does he realize how his behavior has torn the fabric of the family to pieces.
Joseph chooses to forgive and move forward. Evidently, Joseph is a bright guy with a lot of administrative ability, and the prison warden soon makes him his right hand man. God is blessing Joseph even as He is teaching Joseph. The mouthy brat who lorded it over his older brothers is gone, replaced by a highly intelligent and thoughtful young man. God had Jacob herding sheep and goats in the wilderness for twenty years to mature him. Now God is putting Joseph through a rigorous training as well.
APPLICATION: Many times we may find ourselves in situations from which there is no easy way out. A commitment to a training program or to a particular project may leave us feeling trapped. At the same time, we may be coldly furious at those who have manipulated our situation. We may also be angry with ourselves for getting into the situation in the first place. And we may be angry with God for allowing something of the sort to happen.
The question you must ask yourself is this: what is God trying to teach me in this situation? God doesn’t do anything haphazardly. And God can engineer a situation that seems intolerable to work for your success. Look at Joseph, thrown into prison and yet becoming the number two man in the entire place.
You need forgive those whom you feel have hurt you. You need to forgive anyone in the situation who is contributing to your feeling of helplessness. And you need to forgive yourself.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you that you can work situations that appear to be disasters out for our good. Thank you that you forgive us for our sins against you when we confess them. Help us to forgive those around us and to forgive ourselves at the same time. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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