Joseph has been sold to traders who take him to Egypt and sell him as a slave. He ends up in the house of Potiphar - captain of Pharoah's guard - like the Secret Service detail assigned to protect the president. (This guy is hobnobbing with the most powerful man on the earth.) And immediately God turns this bad situation (slavery) to good. He blesses everything Joseph does then blesses Potiphar when Joseph is promoted to house steward - running everything in Potiphar's household.
Next we discover that Joseph is "hot." He's ripped! And who notices? Potiphar's wife. Joseph the slave is being seduced by his master's wife, and probably, by Potiphar's status, "hot" in her own right. In the face of this pressure, Joseph offers words mature beyond his years. . .
"But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
A sin against God. Do you love and honor God so much that your motivation to be good is not fear of punishment, or that you'll get caught, but that you want to please God? Joseph recognized that his situation was marked by God's blessing and he didn't want to mess with that. Blessings or curses? Think back to Adam and Eve faced with their own temptation. They fail. Joseph passes. We can see why God was blessing him.
But the story and Joseph's life goes south. Potiphar's wife tries to trap Joseph. When he flees her advances, she accuses him of rape. (This story make it into the children's curriculum?). Potiphar "believes" his wife and Joseph ends up in prison. I put believes in quotes because some commentators suggest that Joseph had no legal rights as a foreign slave and that Potiphar was showing grace to Joseph by putting him in jail. He could have been killed.
Talk about a roller coaster ride. Favorite son sold by jealous brothers. Sold in a foreign land into slavery but elevated to head steward. Accused of rape and sent to prison without trial. Up. Down. Up Down. For most of us, we might stay down, lose hope. But . . .
"But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden."
God's plan will not be thwarted. God keeps His promises. The line to Jesus Christ requires Joseph. Do you realize that you are part of God's plan? Do you know he requires you to fulfill His promises? Life might be difficult for you right now. You've been accussed. You find yourself in "prison." God wants to liberate you.
Note that Joseph's geography went from bad to worse. But it wasn't about his geography - slave in a foreign land, prisoner in jail, but what changed was Joseph's status within that geography. He trusted God.
Will you?
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