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Genesis 39:19-22  When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.  Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder.  So the warder put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.

The account of Joseph is a good reminder to all of us today that nothing will ever stop our sovereign God from carrying out his divine Plan to rescue and bless his chosen people, whose names have been written in his Book of Life from the very foundation of Creation (see Revelation 17:8)!  The LORD had revealed to Joseph in a couple of clear visions that he would come to a position of power and authority as part of God’s Saving Plan (cf 37:5-11; 50:20).  His jealous older brothers were determined to prove these visions false, so they took steps to make sure his rise to power wouldn’t happen.  Strangely (?), their actions turned out to be the very things that God was using as an integral part of his Plan.  It is good for us to reflect on this as we witness our society exercising its legislative muscle, through anti-discrimination laws, to prevent the Christian Church from proclaiming the Gospel.  Every time we declare the truth that Jesus is the ONLY Saviour (Acts 4:12), we are offending every other religion.  Every time we declare what God has made clear in his Word about human sexuality, marriage being the union between one man and one woman, individual human life beginning at conception in the womb, etc, etc, we are offending everyone who wants to live their life on a different set of rules.  And we are being called to account at Law for these offences and being required to apologise and be silent.  Some are even being publicly castigated and punished for speaking the truth in love.  We need to realise that it is becoming harder and harder to remain faithful to the Lord’s Great Commission to us to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).  The opposition is becoming more active and more powerful.  So it is also important to remember what the Scriptures consistently say about God’s Plan and its unstoppable progress and ultimate success.  Next time we feel helpless and discouraged about where things are heading, let’s take heart from the account of Joseph – and what God declares through the Apostle Paul: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.  BUT GOD’S WORD IS NOT CHAINED.” (2 Timothy 2:9).