by Pastor Rich Carlson

I read the story of Joseph in Egypt this morning and my focus centered on three lessons.          

First, "The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph" (Genesis 39:5). That's an amazing statement. The Egyptians of that day didn't necessarily have a close tie to the God of heaven, nor had they done much to "deserve" God's goodness, yet the Lord blessed them because of who Joseph was!           

I wonder who there might be in my sphere of influence who might not be strongly connected with God, but who would nevertheless be blessed because of my faithfulness. Could that still happen today? I think so.          

Lesson two: Potipher's wife. Joseph was in charge of everything in Potipher’s household, and this man’s wife tried to seduce Joseph. Joseph's response was both strong and wise.           

"How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" Joseph asked (Genesis 39:9). Joseph’s strength in the face of temptation seems to have come from the focus He had on God and his desire to serve Him well. Then the text records this: "He refused to go to bed with her or even be with her" (Genesis 39:10). That is wise.           

I have concluded, after learning the hard way, that living for God day by day requires making wise choices. There are some things I just need to stay away from. It’s not correct to think that I can trust God and purposely remain in close proximity to sin. Joseph was wise enough to know that he could not even be with Potipher’s wife.           

Our defeats in our battles with sin do not usually come from a conscious choice to sin, but from our decision to remain close to the sin we know we should not do! Can you think, as I can, of how that might apply to something in your own life? Are you willing to be as wise as Joseph?          

Lesson three: The Bible is sometimes easy to read but hard to apply, because I already know the outcome of the story.         

Imagine being Joseph’s father Jacob, and thinking his son had been killed. Imagine the brothers coming back from Egypt without one of the brothers and asking to take Benjamin, the youngest brother back with them (Find the story in Genesis 42 through 45). We know it all turned out fine in the end, but Jacob didn't know at the time that it would. When I tried to imagine what it would have been like to make the decision he did without knowing the outcome, I was reminded of how hard it sometimes is for me to make decisions, not knowing the outcome. It often requires reaching a state either of absolute necessity or absolute trust.         

Jacob reached the necessity part of that equation, and decided he had no choice but to send Benjamin back to Egypt. My life has rarely if ever reached an extremity anything like Jacob faced. To truly follow God’s will, in my relatively easy life, I must work to develop my state of trust in God’s leading. That's one of the reasons reading the Bible is so important to me. I see the decisions people had to make in Bible times, and see the outcome of their decisions, and this helps equip me for my own difficult times of decision. 

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. "God is Faithful" is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.