::R1640 : page 111::

JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT

II. QUAR., LESSON IV., APR. 22, GEN. 41:38-48

Golden Text—”Them that honor me I will honor.”—1 Sam. 2:30

In Egypt we find Joseph making the best of his new and trying circumstances. Having resolved to look upon the brightest side of things and to act upon the right side, he trusted in God and was cheerful and faithful in all his duties, whether they were agreeable duties or not. He acted thus, not from policy, but from principle—because he loved righteousness and desired the approval of a righteous God.

His faithfulness soon won his master’s confidence; “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 he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.” And when, after some ten years of faithful service here, he was falsely accused and cast into prison, “and he was laid in iron and his feet were hurt with fetters” (Psa. 105:17,18), with a clear conscience and a sense of the divine approval he determined to make the best of that situation also; and there too “the Lord was with him and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison;” and there, without any prospect of release, he remained faithful to God and duty for three years, when suddenly, the purposes of this discipline and proving having been served, God set before him an open door. He did not take him out of prison, but in pursuance of the pathway of benevolent helpfulness to others he led him out.

Wherever Joseph was, and no matter what were the circumstances, he did what was right and made the best use of the situation; and his faithfulness in all the little things prepared him for larger and wider fields of usefulness. He was rightly exercised by the experiences of life. He was kind both to the thankful and to the unthankful, generous to the mean as well as the noble, not allowing the injustice and harsh treatment which he received from others to harden his heart. And in all his course we see no signs of distrust in God or of complaining. In his trials he simply clung closer to God and took comfort in the manifestations of his favor, while he trusted where he could not trace him.

When God showed to Joseph the interpretation of the dreams of the butler and baker in prison, he recognized the favor as from God and thought he saw in the circumstance an open door to liberty once more. But the ungrateful butler forgot his benefactor, and for two years more he remained a prisoner. Then the door was swung open—this time, not only to freedom, but to honor and advancement, and Joseph was prepared to enter. His suggestion to Pharaoh of a wise course in view of the predicted famine was an evidence not only of his faith in God but also of a keen, active, business turn of mind. He thus taught that men should act upon their faith promptly and without wavering; and when he was chosen to pilot the nation through the threatening dangers of their future, he showed his great executive ability and his faithfulness there also. In this he was partly favored by inheritance from his father; but much was added to that by his own energy and force of character. All the open doors to usefulness and honor are of no avail if we lack the energy and force of character to enter them and to carry forward successfully the enterprises to which they lead. Faithfulness, purity of character, nobility of purpose, energy, courage, acquired skill, piety and self-discipline are all necessary to a successful life from God’s standpoint.

Joseph’s exaltation to the throne of Egypt, where he was second only to the king, may be regarded by some as the full reward of his faithfulness. But evidently Joseph did not so regard it. He still had respect to the promises of God: he did not lose his head and become puffed up with pride on being elevated from the position of a slave and a prisoner to a royal throne, but with the same steady dignity that characterizes a true man, he quietly went about the business of his new office with the same energy, competency, and faithfulness that had characterized him as a slave and as a son and brother in his father’s house. His long acquaintance with God, especially under the discipline of adversity, had made him humble, and the graces of character grew beautifully in his prepared heart. But the throne of Egypt had never been the goal of his ambition; for, like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, he looked for the heavenly city, the Kingdom of God. There was his treasure and there was his heart, and from thence he drew the inspiration of his noble life; and the court of Egypt was esteemed only for its privileges of helpfulness to others.

====================

— April 1, 1894 —