Background Story: Last time we saw Joseph, he was thrown in a pit by his older brothers and then sold into servitude to an Egyptian named Potiphar.

Read Genesis 39

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

² The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, ⁷ and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

⁸ But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. ⁹ No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. ¹² She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴ she called her household servants.“Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁶ She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.²⁰ 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, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Big Idea: Our biggest trials help shape us into the person God is creating us to be.

Have you ever heard the phrase, Bloom Where You’re Planted? Joseph is the perfect example of this. Joseph is thrown into a pit and sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. He ends up in Egypt working for a man named Potiphar. Working as a servant, Joseph works hard and is trustworthy and moves into a place of leadership. One would think that the dreams that God showed Joseph in earlier chapters are coming true. But then Joseph is faced with a moral dilemma. His boss’ beautiful wife likes him. Joseph is a normal teenage boy, so I am sure he was tempted like everyone else. But he makes the decision to do the right thing and run away from temptation. But instead of getting rewarded for making the right decision, he gets falsely accused and thrown in jail. Joseph just can’t seem to catch a break.

The truth is, sometimes when we follow God’s plan, everything works out great and we see huge success. Sometimes when we follow God’s plan, we run into a brick wall in the middle of the path. The most dedicated Christians can get a terrible disease, lose their job, or face a huge disappointment. Why? It doesn’t seem fair. Shouldn’t doing the right thing be a guarantee of success? Why do believers face trials?

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that in my life, my hardest struggles and biggest sorrows have molded me like clay on a potter’s wheel. Trials squeeze, shape, and transform us removing unstable foundations we relied on and causing us to seek, depend, and rely on God. In those trying times, we learn deep truths about God that transform our entire life and prepare us for the destination ahead.

If you find yourself in a trial today, seek Jesus. He will meet and sustain you- transforming you today as you choose to keep trusting Him. And these lessons you learn today will prepare you for tomorrow. Just like Joseph, God is doing something in you today, so that in the future He can do something through you.

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Dig Deeper: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Psalm 23, Psalm 91, James 1:2-4

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