January 19: Of Joseph, Patience and Faithfulness

Genesis 39:1-41:16

Matthew 12:46-13:23

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 3:33-35

Waiting is difficult.  For something we want - Christmas morning, for example, or the next time we see someone we are madly in love with - waiting is tough enough.  Waiting for relief, however - from fear and pain, from injustice, from excruciating circumstances you did nothing to cause - that kind of waiting can be maddening, the kind that drives people to extremes. 

Which is why I don't know how Joseph did it.  He not only waited out injustice and its consequences, he waited them out with faithfulness, with generosity, and eventually, even forgiveness.  Consider: from the day his brothers threw him down a cistern and from which, subsequently, they sold him into slavery, he waited:

• Around 13 years as a slave, including 
• Over two years as a prisoner, for a crime he did not commit, and
• At least 2 years during which the cup bearer he helped neglected to put in a good word for him with the king, and finally…
• A total of twenty four - count them, twenty four! - years till he could repay his brothers for the  grievous wrong they did him

And yet when he was sold to Potiphar, he served Potiphar faithfully - when Potiphar's wife demanded he sleep with her, he refused.  And when he was sent to jail - for doing the RIGHT thing! - he served the jailer faithfully.  And when the king asked for his help, he provided it willingly - without asking to be freed.  And, as we will read, when his brothers came to him in desperate need, despite the power he had to take his revenge upon them, he not only forgave them, he provided for them.  Willingly.  Generously.   

When one ponders how he was rewarded for his faithfulness, his patience and generosity, one tends to focus on the position, the power, the wealth he ended up enjoying.  I believe, though, that he was rewarded with something far more valuable - the unburdening of anger and pain without which I doubt he would have been able to serve so faithfully and generously for so long, much less forgive his brothers.  

Father, when we face adverse circumstances of Your choosing and not ours, grant us the ability to respond as Joseph did: with patience and faithfulness.  And as we exercise those gifts, unburden our spirits of any anger and hate; replace them with joy and peace.