Read: Psalm 42

Reflect:
Perhaps you have had a time when you were in such distress and anguish that you could say like the Psalmist in Psalm 42:3 “My tears have been my food day and night.” Sometimes these periods are brief but sometimes they can last a long time.  In Joseph’s life, it was “some time later” that the cup-bearer and chief baker arrived in prison with Joseph and then it says they remained in prison for “quite some time” and finally it was “two full years later” that Joseph was released from prison when Pharaoh had some dreams.  How does one find hope and courage when they are in a long season of disappointment or suffering?  Let’s see what we can learn from the Psalmist.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a Welsh minister influential in the British evangelical movement offered some advice that I have found to be very helpful:  “Don’t listen to yourself.  Talk to yourself.”  When we talk to ourselves it tends to be bad news.  We dwell on the situation, the problems, the pain.  But notice what the Psalmist does – he starts talking to himself. “Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?”  His soul has been depressed and crushed and now he says to himself, “Self, listen to me, I am going to talk to you.”  What does the Psalmist say to himself?  He says, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” and “therefore I will remember you…” He is recalling who God is and what He has done.

What do we say to ourselves when we are in trouble or enduring suffering?  We remind ourselves of God’s truth – who He is, what He has done, what He has promised to do.  Perhaps our self-talk might go something like this:  “Listen, self!  You are a child of God! If God is for you, who can be against you?  He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for you, self, will he not with him freely give us all things? Who can separate you, self, from the love of God?  Jesus died for you, self, and He is at the right hand of God interceding for you.”

Notice these are just God’s truths found in Scripture (Romans 8).  This is what we need to fill our minds with and speak into our souls.

Pray:
Spend some time reminding yourself the truth of who God is, what He has done, who you are in Christ, and what God has promised He will do.

Read: Genesis 40:9-23

Reflect:
Just when it looks like Joseph might have a way out of prison, the chapter ends with the words “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”  Joseph’s life presents a complex mix of God’s blessing and human disappointment. The Bible does not describe Joseph’s internal struggles or his confidence that God would deliver him as he desired. I wonder what he was thinking or feeling? Were there hard days? Did he fully trust God immediately or gradually? Joseph’s life had to be hard and his mind full of unanswered questions.  Perhaps it was in this dark season that God was preparing Joseph for what lay ahead.  I have heard the phrase “A faith that hasn’t been tested is a faith that can’t be trusted.”  Joseph’s faith was definitely being tested during this time and I would guess that his depth of character and faith were developing and growing here, in prison, more than they had been in Pharaoh’s palace.  If you were to ask a mature Christian about their faith I think many would say that it grew the most when they were in the midst of trials and struggles.  For it is in these times that one learns to depend on God and find Him to be faithful.

Pray:
Lord, help us to consider it pure joy whenever we face any type of trial because we know that through it you will grow our faith as long as we lean into you and don’t give up. Then we can look back and see all the wonderful ways you helped us persevere. We will see how you can use our situation to encourage others. Praise your name for using even the most difficult time for your glory.  (from James 1:2-3)

Read: Genesis 40:1-8

Reflect:
While Joseph was in prison two important prisoners, the king’s cupbearer and baker, were placed in Joseph’s care. Both had offended their master in some way. After these two men had been in Joseph’s custody for “some time,” Joseph must have gotten to know them and relate to them personally. One morning he noticed their sad, dejected faces and asked them, “Why do you look so sad today?” His question communicated interest and concern.  We get a little peak into the heart of Joseph. Men who are consumed with anger and bitterness do not often take a concern for the personal problems of others like this.  It would be understandable for Joseph to think that because of all the wrong done against him, everything should center on his own feelings and hurts.   When you look at the life of Joseph we see a glorious reflection that closely mirrors another life we are very intimately familiar with – Jesus.  In this passage Joseph shows us the compassion of Jesus.  There are many examples in Scripture where Jesus is moved with compassion for others.  As Dane Ortlund says in his book “Gentle and Lowly” “This compassion comes in waves over and over again in Christ’s ministry, driving him to heal the sick (Matt.14:14), feed the hungry (Matt 15:32), teach the crowds (Mark 6:34), and wipe away the tears of the bereaved (Luke 7:13).  The Greek word for “compassion” is the same in all these texts and refers most literally to the bowels or guts of a person – its’s an ancient way of referring to what rises up from one’s innermost core. This compassion reflects the deepest heart of Christ.”

Pray:
Ask the Lord to give you eyes to notice others who are hurting and to have the same compassion that Jesus has shown us.

Read: Acts 7:9-10
“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.”

Reflect:
This passage in Acts is part of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin.  One of the things they had accused him of was blasphemy against Moses and God. Stephen responded by telling the biblical story not in terms of commandments and temples, but in terms of promise and fulfillment, of prophecy, and the challenge to obedience.  He started with Abraham and told the leaders how God’s rescue plan was fulfilled despite human flaws and rebellious acts.  It was always by God’s might, his power, his grace and his initiative. I love the words “but God” for it shows that circumstances never get the last word.  These words appear in various forms hundreds of times in the Bible.  Casey Lute, who wrote a book that focuses on nine of the most important appearances of this key phrase states “To the left of `But God’ is hopelessness, darkness, and death. But to its right, following `But God,’ readers of Scripture will find hope, light, and life.”

Pray:
Take Ephesians 2:1-8 for example, looking at what comes before “but God” and what comes after and praise Him for it! “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Read: Genesis 39

Reflect:
As you read this passage you might have noticed a phrase repeated.  Four times it says “the Lord was with Joseph.” Genesis 39:2-3 says “The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.  When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did.”  Then again in Genesis 39:20-23 it says “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.  But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.  So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.  The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”  What a rollercoaster ride Joseph has had! He’s been sold into slavery, then he’s successful in the house of his Egyptian master but by the end of the chapter, he’s thrown into prison even though he did nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. Yet, in the middle of it all, whether things were going well in the house of his Egyptian master or things were not going so well in a dungeon, the Lord was with him.  This truth is repeated throughout Scripture in the lives of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua and it is what Jesus tells his disciples at the end of the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20): “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Whether you are in a battle or are celebrating victory, whether you are on a mountain top or you need a mountain moved, whether you are in chains or in a palace, know that God is with you.  You are not alone. God, Himself, is by your side.

Pray:
God, help us to live in light of your presence. Help us to glorify you and walk with humble confidence in you. Give us direction and wisdom. Help us in everything we do in our lives, in our families, in our work. God, direct us and empower us. God, show the power of your presence with us today. Amen.