Sometimes we have to take jobs or undertake tasks that we find
beneath us. Sometimes we have to do work we’d rather not do. I think this story
is a good example of how God can still bless people and give them success in
these jobs. In these jobs, we can refine our character, humility, and gain a
reputation for being upstanding that will follow us all of our lives. Sometimes
these jobs are stepping stones to “better” or more influential work later. We
don’t know the future. Joseph certainly had no real hope to advance in society as
much as he does in the end (he was a slave), but it happened.
A job is a job.
Even if it’s school, we all have something we’re getting up every day to
complete. Maybe we don’t want to do it forever. But it’s important to have
integrity and try your best in everything you do. This isn’t for our glory, but
God’s. When you do good work and you are openly Christian, it is going to
reflect on your God. Everything good that happens gives glory to God. If your
main goal in life is your own advancement or how you are being perceived, you’re
missing the point. A Christian isn’t his own person anymore. He’s the living
embodiment of Christ on Earth at this particular time.
If you’re diligent, the
Potiphars will notice, and credit will go where credit is due (to God). Of course, we
can’t forget that when scripture mentions Joseph’s hard work and success, it
first mentions that God was with him. In America, we are enamored with personal
attributes, degrees, and will power, and we forget that without God’s power, we
will always fail to achieve what
someone relying on the Holy Spirit can do. You think you can achieve success at
work and bring glory to God simply through your own efforts? It’s a stupid
mistake to forego that help. Anyone who has read the book of Acts knows how fast God can move through regular people.
Joseph was hot, so Potiphars wife asked him to sleep with
her. Joseph resisted the temptation, citing Potiphar’s trust in him and his
obedience to God. Potiphar’s wife solicited him for sex daily for a long time.
Joseph refused to go to bed with her or “even be with her.” This is what
impresses me. It’s important to not be alone with an object of lust, especially
when he or she is married. Even if you think, “It’s alright because we are just
friends and neither of us would ever do anything/are thinking that,” hanging out or working one-on-one with a married person of the
opposite sex is nearly always a bad idea. At the very least, it can raise
eyebrows or jealousy in the spouse, which isn’t something you want to do to a
person.
One day Joseph allowed himself to be in the house alone with her (she
probably sent everyone else out of the house), and she caught him by his cloak
and said, “Come to bed with me!” He ran out of the house, leaving his cloak in
her hand. So Joseph still has a thing for distinguishing clothes, eh? Potiphar’s
wife cried rape. Joseph was thrown into prison, which was probably a mercy
because an Egyptian official would surely have the power and right to put
Joseph to death for this. Maybe Potiphar did this because of the good work
Joseph did for him. Maybe he feared the wrath of Joseph’s God. Maybe he suspected
that his wife might have been making it up. God was with Joseph in prison too,
so Joseph found favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
The warden put Joseph
in charge of all the prisoners and prison operations. That’s right: Even in
prison, God can bless a man, give him important work, and make him the best
inmate possible. There are many prison inmates who just become animals, go with
the flow of the new crowd, or see their lives as “over.” They give up. But as
long as you are alive, there’s a purpose and a promise. There are people in
prison (few, but some) who keep creating or adding to the world in some way,
like the inmates who yell at the delinquent teens in “Beyond Scared Straight”
or the inmates who write, speak, or work hard at the jobs given to them in
prison.
There’s no place or position in life where God can’t work, whether you’re
trapped by walls or the physical prison of sickness. It’s not over until it’s
over. There’s no place where you are “wasting time.” Not only can you do good
things where you are right now, you might be in training for something else. In
this part of Joseph’s story, he’s becoming competent, responsible, and able to
lead a large number of people. When he becomes Pharoah’s right-hand man, he’s
going to have the skills he developed while he might have thought he was in
limbo, wasting time. I think this story proves that you can go from any low to
any high. You can go from working at Dairy Queen to becoming President of the
United States (Obama).
I doubt there are inmates reading this blog, but if
there are, you have just as much opportunity to bring glory to God than any
other Christian, if not more. God delights in taking the so-called lost cases
and using them. It shows off his power all the more. And that’s the point.
Joseph’s success and blessings were not for Joseph. They were for God’s bigger
purpose. They were to save the family so that the Jewish people could bring
about Jesus. That way, Jesus could save the world, reconcile all things to God,
and…bring glory to God. Even when God is loving us, He’s still the point.
That’s
why whenever I read a Bible story, I don’t look for the heroes and villains or
the “moral.” I first try to ask, “What does this story tell us about God and
how he operates?” This supposedly depressing chapter encourages me a lot. One of my biggest worries used to be that God could never use me because I didn't have the same talents as other women in the church. I used to be concerned that I would always be bored, waste my life, and never be challenged. In light of the big picture, this story tells us not to sweat our current circumstances in life. This story tells us that God could have a plan for life's dead periods. I don't know if anyone else has felt this way or can relate, but we all want to be part of the big adventure, right?
Even in the darkest days of my days working in a supermax facility I never lost faith that God, for whatever reason, had me exactly where he wanted me. Doubted, yes. Angry at times, you bet. But in the end I never lost faith.
ReplyDeleteThere are pictures from The Holocaust showing people who threw themselves into electric fences to escape the pain. It's hard to believe, but I think that even in those dire circumstances God wants you to find a way to serve, to carry your cross, and ultimately be like him. Suicide is the most selfish of acts, and it is the one thing that truly says to Him, "I don't believe you."
A person is not defined by faith, but the acts that faith manifests. Joseph not only had faith, but lived it out in very trying circumstances. An example the rest of us would do well to follow.
I read that book "Man's Search for Meaning," which is half a psych book and half a memoir about concentration camp life. The conclusion was basically that as long as a man has a purpose, he can get through anything.
DeleteYou totally reminded me that when I get to an appropriate passage, I have to write something on suicide. I think it's less selfish than it is delusional. When you get that low, you truly think no one will care that much if you go.
One thing I keep meaning to look into, as I've heard it both ways, is that Joseph could have had a distinguishable cloak, perhaps as a sign of his favoured position, or that as he was a slave and only had minimal clothing he ditched his cloak and fled near naked and the situation was apparent that way. Either way I admire his dealing with temptation, there are times when talking is just not helpful and the best thing you can do is just get out of there as fast as you can, and though he likely could easily overpowered her he may have been avoiding any handling of her to avoid being overcome with her temptation. But he trusted in God to provide for his future, including his marriage/sexual life (after all as a slave in a foreign land it was unlikely he would be able to meet and marry a native Israelite, and in that situation it would be easy to rationalise and convince yourself that its not even worth trying to hold on for something better).
ReplyDeleteAdditionally it says that Potiphar's anger was aroused, but not who it was directed towards. It may be towards his wife, or Joseph, or just the situation of him either losing his profitable slave that provided for all his needs or being made a laughing stock for being cuckolded by his own slave. It was possible that he may not have been concerned about their sexual relations even if it were true (in verse 6 it says his only concern was the food he ate, possibly being one reason for Potiphar's wife to seek other opportunities to have sexual relations), but now that the situation has become public he had to make a decision one way or the other. He may have likely known that Joseph was to be believed, but he could have sided with his wife out of concern for his reputation, but though he was comprised he was still lenient towards him the best he could while still siding with his wife. It does make me wonder if they ever interacted later on when Joseph is in charge of Egypt.
They had to have, right? Captain of basically the secret service and right-hand man to Pharaoh? Unless Potiphar lost his job, it's extremely likely.
DeleteGood food for thought, all of that.