So it's Genesis chapter 39 and
verse 1. And Joseph was brought down to
Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,
an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which
had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph,
and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his
master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord
was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper
in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his
sight, and he served him, and he made him overseer over his
house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came
to pass from that time that he made him overseer in his house
and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians'
house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he
left all that he had in Joseph's hand. And he knew not aught he
had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly
person. and well favoured. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. I've decided today that I want
to just limit our thoughts to a few verses at the beginning
of Genesis chapter 39, because I want to try to leave with you
just one main lesson, and I want us to notice the first six words
of verse two. Genesis 39 verse two says, and
the Lord was with Joseph. That little phrase might take
us a bit by surprise. Here's a young man that was hated
by his brothers. A youth who was thought to be
dead by those that he loved. who had been sold to slave traders,
transported to a foreign land, resold without any rights into
the service of a prominent Egyptian, and put to work for someone else's
benefit and for someone else's prosperity. And someone might say, what? With all that's going against
Joseph, how can we say that the Lord was with him? Well, we can say that the Lord
was with him because the Bible says that the Lord was with him. In fact, it repeats the fact
that the Lord was with Joseph in order that we might be reassured
of that truth. And therefore, it is true and
it ought to cause us to reflect a little bit on how we weigh
and consider what happens in our lives. It is true that Joseph
was hated by his brothers, but more importantly, he was loved
by God. It is true that Joseph was thought
to be dead by those he loved, but he was alive and God was
with him. It's true that he was a slave
and far from home, that he was owned and possessed by another
person, but he was possessed of the Lord. It's true that this
person made him work for him, but despite all that, Joseph
lived in the company and in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because the Lord was with Joseph. God Almighty, the creator of
this world, the upholder of all things, the King of kings, the
Lord of lords, was friend and companion to this young Hebrew
slave in Egypt. And for the sake of God's covenant
promise to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, God blessed this
young man. God preserved him in Egypt, in
that foreign country. And God prospered him despite
his lowly position as a slave. So all things that we might think
about, all the examples that we might quote, whether it's
in Joseph's life or looking at our own lives, and say, oh, that's
terrible, oh, that's awful, oh, I'd hate for that to happen to
me. All of those things take on a
different complexion, a different appearance when we see them in
the context that the Lord was with Joseph. And I want us to
remember that. I want you to remember that.
If the Lord is with you, no matter the circumstances in your life,
good will come of it. It must. Because all things work
together for good to them that love God. So that if we love
God and if God loves us, we shall see His good hand even in the
hardest, most difficult circumstances of our life. As I read those verses through,
as I was thinking about what I was going to say and preparing
some thoughts, I thought of David's psalm in Psalm 23 that I'm sure
you're familiar with. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. That means I won't lack for anything
that I need. He goes on to say, the psalmist,
yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. What a blessed thing
to have the Lord with us, so as to prosper like Joseph prospered
in all that we do. In the next few weeks, God willing,
we are going to read about some terrible things that happened
to Joseph. That's a kind of trailer, you're
gonna have to come back to hear what those might be. But things,
I believe, will cause us to shake our head and wondering how is
that possibly prospering in this life and in this world? But every
step of the way, the Lord was looking after Joseph, looking
after his friend and his follower. Joseph was always safe. Joseph was always blessed because
the Lord was always with him. And I wonder, do you think that
it would be good to know that the Lord was always with you
in the way that Joseph had the Lord with him Maybe you wonder
how you might know that the Lord is with you. Well, let me tell
you. You know by faith. You believe it by faith. And faith is God's gift that
enables us to trust the Lord Jesus Christ and believe what
he says and believe what he has done, what he's accomplished. And if we trust the Lord, it
is because God gives us faith to do so. And then when the Lord
says, Lo, I am with you always, we take him at his word by faith. We believe him by faith. And even though we do not always
feel it to be so, as Joseph undoubtedly had hard times and difficult
times and sad times and frustrating times, and great disappointment. Nevertheless, by faith we are
able to say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us.