“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”—Jesus’ story of trustworthy servants with integrity, Matthew 25:23

“The Lord was with Joseph” will be said many times in the story of God in the life of Joseph. It is the Lord who shows Joseph how to live a life of integrity that leads to being someone others can trust.  Joseph, favored son of Jacob, his father of great wealth because the Lord was with him, is now a slave. 

Joseph, purchased and paid for in full by his master, does what he is told as a servant and is very successful in all he does.  He is trustworthy, can be counted on, so he is immediately put in charge over all the other servants as well as the management of his master’s household.  We must remember that Joseph is still a young man but has wisdom beyond his years it seems.  Joseph is different and stands out among the other servants. The difference is “the Lord is with Joseph” guiding him in all he thinks, says, and does.  Joseph obeyed and God blessed him with His character as he matured into the man God was molding and shaping.  With great blessings come great responsibilities.

The Enemy hates it when God’s people are blessed with this growing maturity of character and succeed in their work; so he tempts Joseph.  When that doesn’t work, he works through his master’s wife to lie about Joseph.  But still, through it all—the Lord was with Joseph—and others quickly recognize this truth.

Genesis 39

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

² The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Lord was with Joseph.  Joseph, bound and put in a traveling cage to be sold in Egypt, has been bought by a high official.  Life is good. Joseph is soon recognized as loyal servant of integrity, wisdom, and reliability.  He’s recognized by others as one the Lord is with and blesses!  Until, his master’s wife rebukes him for not going to bed with her. To save face; she lies and Joseph is thrown in jail. 

But the head Jailer sees that “the Lord is with him” and puts Joseph in charge!  Is this what is meant by a “born leader;” not necessarily.  What this means is God is in charge and will accomplish His will in Joseph.  Bear that in mind as we read the rest of the story, for there is much more to come!

PAUSE TO PONDER AND PRAY AS A RESPONSE

• Do others recognize Jesus in me when I speak, react, or serve others? 
• Do others know the Lord is with me? 
• Do I pray daily, asking for wisdom from God who gives all I need when I seek Him?
• Even when life is unfair, do others see Jesus in me when life is unjust to me?
• When I am slandered and betrayed by those who hate me and want harm to come to me when I don’t provide all they want from me, will others know the Lord is with me, still?
• Do I give God all the glory, honor, and praise when His blessings flow through me to help others?
• As I transform in the newness of life Jesus provided and I misstep or make a bad decision, is God still with me?  (YES!)

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Jesus, Matthew 28:20

We were bought and our sins paid in full by our Master, Jesus Christ, Emmauel—God with us!  We are no longer slaves to the world’s bidding; we are called Friends, joint heirs with Christ, and have been redeemed and set free!  To all who believe is life forever!  We are promised eternal life later while we grow in an intimate loving relationship with God on earth now made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins!  A relationship with “God with us” gives meaning to now living the abundant life because HE is Life!

Need more “God with us” Truth statements?  Here are a few…

God doesn’t leave his people in the lurch in the Old Testament. He knew they had a problem with sin that no amount of good deeds could ever rectify. So he makes this promise. That he will find a way to be with us.  “Behold, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33). 

In Matthew’s birth narrative of Jesus, he writes, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the Prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)’” (Matt. 1:22-23). This Scripture fulfills some old prophecies we witness in the Old Testament. God promised to be with us in a whole new way, and he fulfills this during the New Testament.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). 

FULL ACCESS:  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father … This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Ephesians 2:18, 3:11-12). 

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). 

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).  The blessing of God’s presence reminds us that he will care for our needs. When we worry that he’ll leave us, we can often shift our focus to temporary fixes that can give us the semblance of a put-together life, such as money. But this passage reminds us to rest in the contentment that God does not plan to abandon us ever.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John: 14:16-17).God exists with us in a whole new way after his death and resurrection.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Perhaps, like me, you had some teachers in your life who gave you the false idea that you had to get your life together before you could approach God. No. God approaches us. He knocks at the door. Yes, the passage indicates that we must open it, but God doesn’t wait for us to have squeaky clean lives. He wants us as we are so he can usher in his life-changing grace.

God is with us. These four little words can change lives. Many of us have had friends or family members abandon us or forsake us, but we have a Solid Foundation who will never do so. Take comfort in knowing God is with us.

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for being with us always. Thank you for leading us to what is best for us as we mature in your love for us. Thank you for guiding our thought-life as we learn from you. Thank you for your wisdom in all the challenges of life here as we prepare for life forever with you. Thank you for accepting as we are but leading us to new life with you.  May others know that you are with me and will want you with them, too.

In Jesus Name, Amen