When God is with a person, we imagine that the person is going to be successful. Although it is true, it is not likely the path or the timing that we image. This story of Joseph is a good reminder of that.
Commentary:
Genesis 39:2. The story said that God was with Joseph. Joseph became successful in what he did. So much so, that the master of the house granted him the authority over his house. Only that did not last long.
Genesis 39:19-20. Joseph was put in jail because of the false accusation of the master’s wife. It was not just any jail but the maximum security prison of the king. Joseph could be there for life.
Genesis 39:21. Again, the story said that God was with Joseph. That did not get Joseph out of the jailhouse. But Joseph impressed the chief jailer and was given a chance to rule over the jail.
Meditation:
At a glance, the presence of God did not last long for Joseph. In fact, he went from being the chieftain of the house of an important government official to the chief prisoner in jail. This type of transformation would not be anybody’s envy. Yet this was what happened to Joseph.
From the story, we can deduce that the presence of God does not guarantee success all the time. Success seems only there for awhile to affirm the love or the presence of God toward the person. God has a plan, but it is not necessary a straight path to success. God’s plan is to help the person becoming of aware of his presence.
The lack of predictability and logical outcome becomes an exercise of faith in God. The journey of faith likely contains a lot of twist and turns. While we are on this journey, we need to be reminded of the presence of God.
Today, every believer has the presence of God in us. The scripture makes that clear to us. This presence of God does not give believers a straight path to success. It does strengthen us when we are in temptation or in trials.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, it is great that we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Help us draw strength from You to walk with You in this earth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Joseph was not guaranteed success all the time, and success seems only there for a while, but god has a plan for everybody right? But why doesn’t got have a plan for our success, does he not want us to succeed? This is what confuses me a lot.
Comment by tsou — May 18, 2010 @ 7:35 pm