Lessons Learned
The first sermon I ever preached was on the life of Joseph. If no one else learned from it, I learned plenty. All through my life, he has been a paragon of perseverance to me. Never quit!
As a new convert, the first lesson I learned was that you have to stand on your own two feet. When you’re suffering, don’t go on a pity party.
Being raised in an orphanage and later in a broken home gave me a distinct advantage. I learned this lesson when I was young, and I learned it well: you have two choices: let suffering make you bitter, or let it make you better. I purposefully chose the latter. It was the second most important choice I made in my life.
Joseph’s brothers said, “We shall see what will become of his dreams” (Genesis 37:20). However, he never let their negative words defeat his dreams. He never let others’ injustices make him angry against God. Yes, he felt their sting and had his discouraging moments.
He is a seventeen-year-old young man in a dungeon and in chains. The pain of the iron around his hands and feet entered his very soul (cf. Genesis 37:2 41:46 41:1; Psalm 105:17-21). They lied against him, imprisoned him, misunderstood him, and wrongly persecuted him, but he discovered that adversity has certain benefits. It makes you strong.
He was not superhuman. We get a glimpse of his frailty when we hear him pleading with the cupbearer to put a good word in for him before Pharaoh. But the cupbearer soon forgot about him (Exodus 40:14,23).
But as the famous hymnist William Cowper wrote, “God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.” Looking back, the Psalmist could affirm, “My affliction has been beneficial to me” (119:71). Alexander Solzhenitsyn, imprisoned under Communism in Russia, could say, “Bless you prison for having been in my life.” Young Joseph also came to the place where he could say, “Bless you, prison, through you, God has brought me to a place of great maturity, where power and prestige could not defeat me as they did many before me.
Mature Christians like Joseph do not look for an effortless road. Recall the great apostle Paul’s words to young Timothy, “Yeah, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Be not surprised if people dislike you because you’re Christian. Peter warns us, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.” To make the firebrand even hotter, Jesus adds, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (II Timothy 3:12; I Peter 4:12; John 16:33). Did not Jesus himself suffer unjustly!
Every Christian who is determined to finish the march to Zion must have a soldier mentality, a spirit of perseverance. The faint of heart will never make it. The challenging aspect arises when you receive unjust persecution. Here Joseph is a classic example. He’s more righteous than his jealous brothers; yet he’s in prison, and they’re living free.
The devil’s jibe is, What’s the sense of trying to live righteously? Look at you now: surrounded by iron bars with chains on your hands and feet, and no one even knows that you exist. That kind of stuff cuts to the bone.
This explains why the New Testament contains a section known as the “prison epistles.” Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon while incarcerated in a Roman prison. The apostle John wrote the book of Revelation while in exile on the island of Patmos. John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrims Progress,” wrote his classic while in prison.
No doubt about it, Joseph didn’t deserve prison, but God can work all things together for good for those who love him.
Another lesson learned is that no one can give you more comfort in your suffering than someone who has traveled down that same road before you. This is exactly what Paul meant when speaking of Jesus; he said, “Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (II Corinthians 1:4, NIV). Are you in a dungeon at the moment? Are your circumstances harsh and bewildering? Don’t quit. The answer is on the way.
When Pharaoh’s chief butler was released from prison, he learned about Pharaoh’s dream and his inability to interpret it. He then informed the Pharaoh about Joseph, who possessed the ability to interpret dreams.
How miraculous. how suddenly things can change when God arrives on the scene. Joseph found himself standing before Pharaoh, who said, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it.” However, I’ve heard that you have the ability to interpret dreams when they come to you. “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires” (Genesis 4:15-16). Joseph rose from prisoner to prime minister of Egypt in a matter of days.
Joseph learned the lesson well: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” The Psalmist said, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (I Peter 5:6; Psalm 20:7).
God is our only unfailing source. Butlers or people in high places can forget us, but he has promised to never forget us or forsake us. He is always true to his word.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? She may forget, but I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:14-16, NIV).
Isn’t that wonderful? God has not forgotten you.
Like Joseph, you are not alone or abandoned if you are going through a dungeon experience.
Rest in God’s unchanging faithfulness.
Dr. Robert Bryant