forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal. "
Philippians 3:13-14
FROM PRISON TO PALACE
Read It: Genesis 40:1-23
He said it yesterday, but somehow it still seems to go against what we think of as right and fair. For Joseph at this point in his life, there was no better place to be than in jail because he was right where God wanted him to be. By now the principle ought to be obvious: Even when you walk with God, human relationships can still get broken. Everywhere Joseph turned, people were either turning on him or turning away from him. Here's another principle of spiritual rebounding we're learning: Sometimes God must take you to the bottom in order to take you to the top. The hard part is remembering when you hit bottom that it's not the end of the trip. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the scars are not real or that people ple don't ever need help in healing the past. I'm saying that lasting hope for rebounding from broken relationships is found in commitment to Christ. Let's go back and visit Joseph in jail. Genesis 40 relates still another problem for him. He helped one of Pharaoh's officials, but the man forgot got about Joseph, and our boy served two more years in prison. Here was a young man leaving a mile-long trail of broken relationships.
And not one of them was his fault. Joseph could have been saying by now, "You know,- life would be good if it weren't for people." But his faith in God told him different, so he waited out his time. And Joe's time was definitely coming. Pharaoh was about to have a dream, and Joseph was about to go from zero to hero, from prison stripes to Pharaoh's main man (Genesis 41). No one can do that kind of miracle but God. See, if you and I were in jail, we would settle for release, a suit of clothes, and a hundred bucks to get back home. But God says, "Trust Me, and I'll take you from prison to the governor's house-not so you can show off for yourself, but so you can show off My power and glory." Think About It God knows where He's taking you. And He knows the lessons you need to learn on the way so that when you get there, you can do the job.
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