While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord . . . showed him
kindness. (Genesis
39:20,21)
Here
we have another one of those Bible quotes that just doesn't sound right: While Joseph was in prison, God showed
him kindness. I might have had the attitude: If you want to show me kindness, GET
ME OUT OF HERE! Better yet, if you were really on my side why did you let me
get thrown in here in the first place? And yet Joseph was in prison
for a substantial length of time – estimates suggest as much as ten years.
This
son of privilege held captive in an African prison seems somehow changed from
the young man sporting his brightly colored coat. The younger Joseph had his
father wrapped around his little finger and took pride in parading that fact among
his brothers, flaunting his position as the favorite. Joseph among the
Egyptians is still a confident man, sure of his relationship with God and
willing to stand by his dreams, but this foreign national has been humbled
through hardship – first being sold into slavery by his own brothers, then
falsely accused of being a sex offender and tossed into prison.
Just goes to show
our plans don’t always get us where God wants us to go. My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8)
Have you ever been humbled? Did it feel like God was being kind
to you?
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