In Genesis 39 Joseph is "brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh... bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites... and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." Where is this that Joseph prospers, and that the Lord is said to be with him? Can it be in Egypt, the very place where his great-grandfather had lost, as to all real blessing, everything? Yes it is Egypt, the identical place and among the identical people or their successors. Then why the difference as to God's behavior toward them? This question with all its issues finds its solution in two words- "went" and "brought." Turn to chapter 12, and what do we find? "There was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." "Joseph was brought down." It all depends on how we get into the circumstances we are found in, as to the approval or disapproval we shall meet with in them at the hand of God.
Joseph is brought down in the wisdom and goodness of God to preserve life, and God makes him to prosper, walking, like the man in the first Psalm, in uprightness, integrity, and godliness. Abram suffered loss because he was there for his own selfish ends, and to escape suffering.
We now find Joseph in prison; and surely if we did not know the sequel we should say, Joseph's day of prosperity is over now. No, it was only God moving in His mysterious way, His wonders to perform; and in the temptation God has proved His servant; and in the prison (because incarcerated there, not through his own sin, but by reason of the cruel, vindictive lies of one whose love turned to bitterest hatred when she found one more righteous than herself, and whose persistent rectitude the more disclosed her lack of it) He kept him company. The Lord was faithful, and through waves and through storms He led along, and in the prison was found with Joseph where, strange to say, he prospered still. Yes, success is certain to the obedient, for the Lord is ever with them.
Joseph does not wrestle and struggle: he can let his gentleness be known to all men, even surely to the prisoners in his care, as well as to those who had cast him there, for the Lord was at hand. (See Phil. 4:55Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (Philippians 4:5).) How different it would have been with Joseph, had the circumstances of his prison life come about by his own sin or folly. But apart from this, two men may be in exactly the same circumstances, and their behavior be entirely different, the effect on the spirit being characterized by the way these circumstances come about, though the way in each case may be right, and even laudable.
Joseph was innocent of the crime he was charged with, and his deportment bore that mark, and the Lord was with him; and doubtless he had many quiet seasons of great refreshing, though we read not of exuberance of joy, as in other cases. The time of his imprisonment was long, but honors were conferred upon him even there; and like Uzziah, while seeking the Lord, "God made him to prosper." He, even here, is found in active service; and the man, so greatly to be honored soon, serves faithfully in his low estate.
Let us now take a peep into another prison, and learn a lesson from a man of an entirely different character. The Holy God has recorded of the impetuous Peter, in the days of his prison life, that he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Blessed and timely sleep is this!
He had once slept when he ought to have watched; now he is, with unremitting care and unsleeping eye, watched over by the One with whom he had failed to watch one hour, but who had found an excuse for the failure, in the weakness of the body, while He gave him credit for all He could, saying, "The spirit truly is ready." Peter is here putting in practice what he afterward, in his epistle, presses upon others, when he speaks of "casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." The "due time" he speaks of in the previous verse for being exalted, in his case out of a very low estate, came very soon.
Surely this scene of a sleeping Peter, in such circumstances, tells us that he at least knew something of the ease of the yoke and lightness of the burden of doing the will of God. To him the words had been addressed, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me"; and the One who had said them was now active in his behalf. Peter's heart does not seem troubled, and his cares are cast on another whose pleasure it was to bear them, while the saints are soliciting, and triumphantly procuring, his release-not at the hands of man, but of Him in whom they unfeignedly believed. Yes, they believed in an unseen Lord as much as in a visible Jesus; as they believed in God, so now they believed in Him (John 14:11Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)). How blessed to be in such exercise and constancy of faith. Their prayers were without ceasing, though as is so often the case, there was a terrible breakdown when the answer came: "They were astonished," and said to the damsel, "Thou art mad."
A third condition of prisoner is found in Paul and Silas. Worse off apparently than all, backs bleeding and in the inner prison-doubtless a loathsome place-and their feet in the cruel stocks, but singing! Not serving like Joseph, nor sleeping like Peter, but singing at midnight!
"Joyful... in tribulation" was what characterized these prisoners, doubtless because they were brought into the circumstances by service for, and in obedience to, Christ. They had witnessed for Him, and now they rejoiced to suffer for His sake. Rectitude and negative innocence, with prosperity, characterized the prisoner Joseph. Positive service, and spiritual-not characteristic-repose was with the prisoner Peter. Positive service, and worship in the Spirit, was with Paul.
As Peter sleeping in prison affords an example for his teaching, and the blessed fruits of its practice, for he had evidently cast his deep care upon Another-precious picture of the repose and confidence of faith, portrayed too in the very one who had drawn his sword before, to gain his object, showing how grace mellows the spirit and displaces impetuous self-will-so Paul not only teaches, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God," but is an example of it by his practice, as in prison he "prayed, and sang praises." Happy prisoner of the Lord then is he who can serve like Joseph, though the sphere of it be very limited; or who can sleep or repose like Peter; or sing praises like Paul till "by the skilfulness of His hands" God Himself delivers! In each of these cases before us, how manifest it is that the hand of God delivered them. "He delivered them out of their distresses." Psa. 107:66Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. (Psalm 107:6).
The interpretation of dreams, the direction and guidance of an angel, the earthquake at midnight, could alone be interventions of God. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." But if we ask "not counsel at the mouth of the Lord," like Israel in Joshua 9, or pursue our own purpose notwithstanding God's Word crosses it, as in the days of Jehoshaphat and Ahab (2 Chron. 18), we need not look to prosper in our ways, nor for triumphant issues to our tribulations, nor hearts and lips full of praises for "His goodness and for His wonderful works." Anything other than His arm made bare for us, will surely only yield suffering intensified, difficulties multiplied, and spiritual poverty and death. How good and how excellent is the language of Asa when he "cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; help us, 0 Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. 0 Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa.... There was exceeding much spoil." 2 Chron. 14:11, 12, 1411And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. 12So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. (2 Chronicles 14:11‑12)
14And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the Lord came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. (2 Chronicles 14:14).