Free Subscription

From Prison to the Palace
By BIJU GEORGE, NEWYORK
July 2006

Of all his children, Jacob loved Joseph the most. But one day, Joseph died!

It was the worst day for Jacob, when Joseph’s brothers brought news that Joseph died, because a wild animal killed him. They also presented the proof, the blood-stained coat of Joseph. It was the ‘coat of many colors’ that Jacob presented to his most beloved son Joseph.

Thirteen years of hidden life; that is what followed Joseph after his short stay in the pit, where his brothers dumped him. However, they decided to take him out of the pit, because Reuben and Judah intervened. Then he was sold to Mr. Potiphar. In Potiphar’s house, he had a better life than in the pit, but the worldly luxuries were not an attraction to Joseph. He would find more joy spending time with God, than in anything else. Joseph escaped the ‘great temptation’ from Mrs. Potiphar, while being there, even risking his job and his life. Joseph had his roots deep down in God. Potiphar’s wife had nothing to loose by sinning, since she is of the world. But Joseph knew he will loose a lot, by yielding to a moment of pleasure. His uncle Esau lost his birthright for a bowl of soup! Adam and eve lost it for disobedience to God. David lost it when he came to the palace, and finally killed an innocent man, Uriah. If Joseph had yielded to sin, he would have had to to live the rest of his life in fear and guilt, because Mrs.Potiphar could always threaten and control Joseph.

Have you ever been falsely accused? But Joseph was working his ‘way up’ in the ‘grave’ where satan put him. All these thirteen years, from the pit to the palace, Joseph was working his way up, regardless of what happened on the outside. When Jacob finally blessed Joseph at his death bed, he says, Joseph is a fruitful wine, a fruitful wine near a spring…With bitterness archers attacked him….But his bow remained steady… because of the hand of the mighty one of Jacob, because of the shepherd, the rock of Israel.(Gen 49:22-25) He (Joseph) was bearing fruit all the time; in the pit, in Potiphar’s house and in the prison. He had his daily time with God, wherever he was. For most of us, we pray to God earnestly when we are in trouble. But when we get a good job or when everything becomes all right, we change our lifestyle and we stop bearing any fruit for God. Joseph was ‘sharpening’ his spiritual gift in the prison. That gift took him out of the prison.

Are you in a ‘spiritual prison’ today? Don’t try to copy others or just start a ‘ministry’. When you grow in the grace of God, He will bring you out! Many people start ministry with a letter head and it ends as a ‘letter head ministry’.

During his days of ‘confinement’, Joseph was not much worried about his situation. But there was one thing that he was concerned about; ‘separation from his loving father’. When Jesus was facing the cross, he prayed, “father, remove this cup from me’. What was the ’cup’? Was it the pain and torture he was going to face? I don’t think so. I believe, it was the pain of bearing the sin of the world upon him, because sin was the thing Jesus hated the most. It was like binding him to a dead, stinking body. Secondly, Jesus was concerned about the ‘separation’ from his father, when all the sin was loaded upon him.

Joseph looked at all the tests, temptations and trials that he faced, as a stepping stone to his God-ordained destiny, not as a stumbling block. What the devil meant for bad,was turned around for good, because of his vision and faith in God. Is he not a good example for us? He did not take any revenge against Potiphar and his wife, or against his brothers, when he came to the throne.

Would anyone appoint an ex-prisoner to a top position in the palace? We know how King Nebuchadnezzar selected and trained the most brilliant young men, to be administrators in his country. Even today, that is the type of selections we have, in the ‘IAS’ selections in India. But Joseph’s selection was against all rules. Did he get any formal education or training to become the administrator of the whole of Egypt? The prisons of Egypt would never allow him to get any education, I guess. If you are committed to God and are working up in your spiritual life- even in the middle of the the worst situations, God will definitely bring you out one day, and promote you- against all rules of the physical world. That is when you will say, “this thing comes from the Lord”.

Joseph went to the pit as a shephered boy, but came out as a prince. Jesus died like a lamb, but was resurrected as King of Kings and lord of Lords.

Few years before, a friend of mine, when he graduated from an Engineering college in Kerala, went to Bombay. He went there to look for a job, but spent most of the time praying, reading the Bible, and even bought second-hand Christian books from the street, which was his passion. Five months later he got a very good job in one of the best public limited companies in India. Even years after that, many of his friends were jobless or working underpaid jobs. My friend decided to work-out his spiritual life when he had nothing else to do. So God blessed him in the material (physical) world.

Hebrews are detestable to the Egyptians. They hate shepherds. That is what Joseph is telling his brothers and father, when they came from Canan, and recommends them the land of Goshen, where they have enough grass. Can you Imagine this? A Hebrew boy, coming out of prison, gets the Royal chair in Egypt? That is what God does. We were all gentiles and unworthy to be called the children of God, but God so loved us and gave himself for us, and made us a royal priest-hood and a holy nation! Do we really know who we are, in Christ, and our authority? We don’t know what we have, until we know what we don’t have. But let us start praying and believing for the impossible; that job which needs much more qualifications than what we have, or anything that we think , is impossible for us. God of Joseph is our God, and God of Joshua can give us the blessings behind Jericho, knocking the walls off! Let us not limit God. But he will be more happy if we ask him for spiritual things, and he shall meet our other needs. It is a good thing to be like Joseph’s brother, so that in the middle of famine, you still have something to eat. But God wants us to be like Joseph himself, where we will be a blessing to many, not just enjoying the blessing from God. May God help us.