In Genesis 37 his story starts out with him being a tattle-tell. He starts out in life trying to cause trouble. He’s arrogant. He wants a corner on his dad’s affections (like he needed to corner that market, he was already the favorite and he knew it).
Next , Joseph has two dreams. Notice Joseph never said, “God gave me these dreams.” Joseph never said that God revealed to him that his family would bow to him. He didn’t even express that his interpretations of the dreams were revealed by God. Joseph had dreams and he interpreted them. Too bad, so sad for his brothers.
So his brothers, angry, sold Joseph to their cousins.
Next scene, Joseph is in Egypt and is sold to Potiphar. Notice Genesis 39:2-3, but specifically verse three: “His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” (ESV) Joseph may have been dumb as rocks. He obviously was when it came to interpersonal skills and his own family. Joseph may have been all beauty and no brain…”The LORD caused all that he did to succeed…” What I find interesting here is that Potiphar even saw that the LORD did this through Joseph. But do we see Joseph giving God any credit? No. I think Joseph thought that he was that good. I think Joseph still had in the back of his mind his dream and that he was succeeding for that purpose.
So then Potiphar’s wife jumps into the picture. She wants to have sex, he doesn’t (she was probably getting old and not very attractive anyway). The last time she tries to seduce him Joseph starts talking about how he’s equal to Potiphar and how he can have everything in the house except Potiphar’s old, dried out wife (she might not even been a temptation for Joseph). But Joseph never gives credit to God for his position. The only thing he mentions is that he doesn’t want to sin against God. In other words, God wasn’t responsible for his success, but if he sins against God, God might be responsible for his fall. To protect his position he didn’t want to sin, but he never gives God credit for his position in the first place. Interesting.
So Joseph gets thrown in prison… falsely accused… poor boy. By now though he might be starting to get it. When the cupbearer and the baker come to him with their dreams he at least gives God the credit for the interpretation. And when the cupbearer is to be restored into Pharaoh’s house what does Joseph tell him to do, praise the God of Israel and worship Him, his deliverer? (Sarcasm intended). No. Joseph tells him, “Remember me.” I mean, I can understand that from a purely human perspective, but what an arrogant little snot. Heaven forbid Joseph thanks God for anything, protector or whatever. Joseph is gonna use God for the interpretations and as long as he doesn’t sin against God, you know, a BIG sin like adultery, he should be cool. In prison, but still cool. Praise God for His sovereignty, I think not; after all, Joseph’s family was still gonna bow before him.
I think Joseph did most of his spiritual maturing in the next two years while in prison. Let’s go back. The story starts when Joseph was 17. He and Pharaoh become besties when Joseph is 30. So in an 11 year time span (if my math is correct) Joseph goes from telling on his brothers, to having a couple dreams, to Potiphar’s house, (which I will just surmise Joseph was probably there at least 9 years, living pretty well I might add). Persecution, eh… some, yeah.
After he relies on God to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams he tells Pharaoh to find a wise man to take care of things. I think here Joseph finally realizes that his past success might not have been a personal fluke, but a God intervened feat. I think the two years he was in prison, reviewing his “successes,” he might have realized that he probably made quite a few blunders that God had to fix for him. “The LORD caused all that he did to succeed…” So Joseph maybe had finally been humbled (prison can have that effect) to the point that he realized he was nothing without God.
And we know the end of the story…
I guess all this is to say:
Romans 6:23 (ESV) “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I’m convinced that anything short of death, whether persecution, imagined or real - whether punishment, deserved or unjustified, is a blessing to grow us deeper in Him.
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