The Lord was with Joseph.
The phrase caught my attention as I read Genesis 39 during my morning devotions.
That's pretty bold, I thought. Joseph's been sold to slave traders by his brothers, sold again to Potiphar, and the narrator of the story has the gall to say "the Lord was with Joseph." How can that be?
One verse later, there it was again.
The Lord was with Joseph.
This time the observation came after a description of how Joseph gained his master's favor and trust by running his house efficiently and well. That one makes more sense,I admitted while adding the caveat, but he's still a slave.
Near the end of the chapter, the phrase popped up again.
The Lord was with Joseph.
The phrase was harder to swallow this time, coming as it did after his master's wife falsely accused Joseph of attacking her.You've got to be kidding,I thought. The Lord can not be with Joseph in those circumstances.
But in the final verse of the chapter, the narrator describes Joseph being sent to prison, followed by—you guessed it—
The Lord was with him.
Not only was the Lord with Joseph in prison, but in whatever he did, the narrator went on to say, the Lord made Joseph prosper.
In my head, I did a quick recap of the plot points.
Sold into slavery.
The Lord was with Joseph.
Working hard and making his master rich.
The Lord was with Joseph.
Falsely accused.
The Lord was with Joseph.
Unjustly imprisoned.
The Lord was with Joseph.
And the Lord made him prosper.
The circumstances of Joseph's life brought back memories of the years when our young son struggled to stay alive. Every step forward was followed by a health scare that took him two steps back. Yet when I reflect upon our story, as did the narrator of Genesis as he recounted Joseph's, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord was with us and our son.
Our newborn needed immediate surgery at a hospital 750 miles away.
The Lord was with our young family.
Our baby nearly died 2 months later.
The Lord was with our family.
Eventually he had 8 surgeries and countless hospital tests and procedures.
The Lord was with our family.
Our son lived with medically-induced PTSD twenty-six years before diagnosis and treatment.
The Lord was with our family.
And the Lord made us prosper.
Our prosperity hasn't come in the form of material riches, glamorous lives, or notoriety. Instead, our prosperity is one of the heart–the strong and sure assurance gained through sensing God's presence as He guided us through darkness into a future we could not imagine or conceive at the time. Our prosperity comes from looking back and pointing to the obvious times God went ahead of us, preparing His way for us andpreparing us—my husband, myself, our son, and our daughter—to do His work in those days and in this day.
It's a bold statement, I think while rereading Joseph's story and reflecting on our family's story, to claim that the Lord is with us when everything is going wrong and getting wronger.
It's a bold statement, and it is absolutely true.
The Lord was with Joseph.
The Lord was and is with our family.
The Lord is with you.
The Lord is with your child.
Though it may not feel like He is with you,
He is with you.
You may not be able to see, in the difficult present, but His is hand guiding you. One day in the future, you will look back and see that He was with you, that He was guiding you, and that He has brought you to an unexpected and purposeful present beyond your wildest imaginings. When the truth settles into the depths of your soul, you will know beyond a shadow of doubt that.
The Lord is with you and with your child.
And He has made your heart prosper.
