Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.
And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field. So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him around he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “ ‘Behold, with me around, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?”
And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. And she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household, and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed. And it came about when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled, and went outside.”
So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me; and it happened as I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” Now it came about when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me”; that his anger burned.
So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper. Genesis 39:1–23.
The Lord made it to prosper. I don’t suppose Joseph was invincible. No doubt he did not have perfect judgment in all things. But that did not matter. God made whatever he did to prosper. There is a great deal to be learned here in the integrity and the steadfastness we see in Joseph.
Sometimes it is easy to stand for the thing that is right when everyone else is standing with you and you have the proper encouragement when you know that everyone is pulling for you.
It is another thing to stand quite alone. Joseph was in the will of the Lord, for he later declared that God had brought him to Egypt to save many people alive (Genesis 50:20).
He said that even the evil intents of his brothers against him, God had meant for good. Joseph had a correct perspective, that whether he was in jail or whether he was serving as a slave, God was blessing him because of that integrity, that steadfastness, and honesty in his heart toward God.
He was honest toward God to keep covenant with the Lord and the Lord was also faithful to bless him in everything he undertook, in everything he was to do.
When we are under pressure and all alone, there is probably no greater trial for us than for Satan to come against our emotions to discourage us. At that moment it is not an issue of right or wrong, but one of disobedience.
A person under great heaviness can easily give way to rebellion. In those moments of discouragement which can come when you are standing alone or when you are in a battle and you do not know what to do, it would be very easy for you to do the wrong thing.
I doubt whether Christians are motivated as much by the base passions as their actions sometimes indicate. When they “blow” it, I do not think it is so much because evil has filled their heart, as that disobedience came in a moment of loneliness, in a moment of standing alone.
In II Timothy 4:16 Paul tells that at his first appearance before the emperor, no man stood with him. Such an experience can really shake one. No man stood with him. Of all the Christians in the Roman Empire, of all those whom Paul had won to Christ, not one man stood there with him when he needed him. These things can get to you when difficulties and problems come in your life.
As we consider the situations God orders in our lives and our being steadfast under them, we realize that the battle sometimes can be very difficult, and it is no wonder that in times of great stress people yield to the enemy. It seems too difficult to go on, apparently alone, too difficult to stand in the gap and do the thing required of them.
The day before us of being strong and doing exploits will not come to people who have been up and down, wavering in and out, or to those who hear the anointed word of the Lord and then in a moment of stress or emotional pressure “blow” it and walk away.
These experiences will be for those in whom God has worked His steadfastness until they will be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as they know that their labor is not in vain in the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58).
The pattern of being up today and down tomorrow, walking today and then wandering in no-man’s land tomorrow, even though God has been speaking to you, has to end.
The victory to be manifested and the great achievements God will work by His Spirit through His remnant will only come through a people in whom the faithfulness of the Lord has been wrought. It will not come through instruments in whose hearts He has not first worked His steadfastness.
What was the history of the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence? These were all wealthy men—not poor men or wild-eyed pirates—who pledged their lives and fortunes to win independence for America.
They had enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal living. They were prosperous, wealthy land owners secure in their prosperity. For some months after these fifty-six men met to sign the Declaration of Independence, the document was kept secret as far as the names of the men were concerned, because of a phrase in the last paragraph which reads: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
The story behind those impressive words is quite another thing. King George III had denounced all the rebels in America as traitors, and the punishment for treason was hanging.
Those fifty-six men knew, when they signed, that they were risking everything. What happened to them? They knew at best they would just be a part of a struggling nation, and at worst they would face a hangman’s rope. But they signed, and they did indeed pay the price.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas and destroyed. To pay his debts he lost his home and all his properties and died in rags.
Thomas Lynch Jr., who signed that pledge, was a third-generation rice grower, an aristocrat and large plantation owner. After he signed, his health failed. During the war he set out for France with his wife to regain his health. Their ship never reached France; it was never heard from again.
Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress without pay, his family in poverty and in hiding.
Vandals looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Gwinnett, Walton, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton. These men, fleeing for their lives, came back to find everything being taken.
Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia raised two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the French fleet. After the war, he personally paid back the loans and wiped out his entire estate. He was never reimbursed by his government. In the final battle for Yorktown, Nelson urged General Washington to fire on his (Nelson’s) own house which was occupied by Cornwallis. It was destroyed. Nelson died bankrupt and was buried in an unmarked grave.
The Hessians, the German mercenary soldiers, seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey.
Francis Lewis’ home and everything he owned was destroyed and his wife imprisoned. She died within a few months.
Richard Stockton was captured and mistreated and his health broken. His estate was pillaged.
Thomas Heyward Jr. was captured when Charleston fell.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside while she was dying. Their thirteen children fled in all directions for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves and returned home after the war to find his wife dead, his children and properties gone. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart.
Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed and his family scattered.
Philip Livingston died within a few months from the hardships of the war.
Of the fifty-six, few were long to survive. Five were captured by the British and tortured. Twelve had their homes sacked, looted, occupied by the enemy, or burned. Two lost their sons in the army. One had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six died in the war from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets.
I do not know what you are looking for in America, but I am still looking for a remnant of men who have this same type of feeling in their hearts that these signers of the Declaration of Independence had. That is what the Kingdom of God needs today—men and women who will say, “Here I am. Anything that I have, anything that God lays within my hand, I am willing to give it—even my very life—for the cause of Jesus Christ.”
If there were that dedication to Jesus Christ, there would not be this tendency of up and down, up and down. We can set our hearts upon the Lord as David did.
In spite of all the things David had, he could say, “My heart is fixed on thee.” We need this dedication to be steadfast before the Lord now as never before—steadfast in our dedication to what we are going to do.
Moments may come to every one of us in which we feel as if no one is really interested in us, and we are battling it alone. We are only facing the beginning of difficulties. It will become much more difficult, but none of us will ever have it as difficult as Jesus did at that moment when they all forsook Him and fled, and He was to face the cross without any help at all.
What is the Lord teaching us in this? We are going to have a walk with God and we cannot walk with Him unless we are dedicated to Him. We must be willing to really serve Him, to love Him.
What is a walk with God? Does your definition still have rather selfish aspects to it? Or do you want to walk with God so you can actually fulfill the destiny He has brought you forth to fulfill? To be the person He has called you to be? To be the instrument in His hand that He has called you to be? Are you willing to be a disciple who is willing to see the loss of all things, as Paul said, “I count them but dung that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
I wonder if these men who signed the Declaration of Independence had moments in which they regretted their commitment. It is easy to do.
John the Baptist had a moment like that. All Judea had turned out to hear him and to receive his baptism unto repentance. He had heralded the Christ, given the announcement, “This is the Lamb of God, the One I am to announce.” Then in prison he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are You the one who was to come or do we look for another” (Luke 7:19)?
When the pressure is on, you begin to wonder, “Did I make a mistake by becoming this involved? There does not seem to be any recognition. It does not seem that the Christian world knows anything about this level of discipleship. Have I made a mistake?”
You will have to receive by revelation from the Lord what it means to walk with God. And once it comes as a revelation, you cannot waver on it. It will have to be more than some half-hearted assent. You will have to know in your heart that this is the kind of truth men and women live for. This is the kind of a truth people die for. This is a walk with God that involves you so thoroughly and completely that you will recognize yourself to be expendable in order to do the will of God, including anything He wants, anything you have.
The early Church went through these things. Paul said, “At my first defense no one stood with me” (II Timothy 4:16).
We read similar cries of other men in the Bible. David wrote in Psalm 88:13–18: But I, O Lord, have cried out to Thee for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before Thee. O Lord, why dost Thou reject my soul? Why dost Thou hide Thy face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on (this was the time he was young and the harassment of Satan kept his life in jeopardy); I suffer Thy terrors; I am overcome. Thy burning anger has passed over me; Thy terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether. Thou hast removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in darkness.
Everything was gone; nothing was left—not even a friend to stand by. Job had several friends, but miserable comforters they were. Are you prepared to walk that way? Some of you will.
In Psalm 142:1–4 we read: I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me; Thou didst know my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.
Have you ever felt that way? Even with that, you cannot turn aside. You cannot say, “Lord, I’m desolate.” You walk through it. Whatever it is, you walk through it.
You say, “Lord, I’m going to be faithful to You. I’m going to be steadfast. There is something that You will do through me, and here I am, yielded in Your hand for it to come to pass.”
Why is this word coming to us at this time? Because the ministries listed in the fourth chapter of Ephesians are given to bring us to the place where we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ. Ephesians 4:14–15. We are not to be in the place where we can be deceived or tricked or where for some reason the pressures upon us will cause us to fail.
The prisoners of war have told how one interrogator would come in and beat them, demanding them to tell things. Then another interrogator would come in and say, “Here now, lay off,” and seem to befriend them. He would try to break them down one way or another, any way that he could.
the schemes of Satan coming through all kinds of channels and circumstances have been designed for only one thing: to break you down. If we are to prevail, it has to be because the mercy and the grace of God sustained us. There must be this in our hearts, that we believe to be faithful, we believe to be steadfast, we believe to press in. Oh God, we believe that we will not waver in Thy sight.
Paul wrote to the Philippians, a church severely persecuted, and told them: Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents.… Philippians 1:27–28. Just stand fast. When you have done all to stand, then just stand. If you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. Do not let anything discourage you.
Sometimes there is an acceptance of discouragement, and other times there is a refusal. There can be a faith even in what seems to be discouragement. I think that Job had that. He said, “Though worms consume this body, yet in my flesh will I see God, whom I shall see for myself” (Job 19:26–27).
He said, “Okay, so I’m about ready to rot, but even after worms destroy this body, I am going to see Him. I am going to see Him for myself and not another.” In the midst of pressures, there was a faith.
Paul wrote to the Philippians, “I am ready to be a poured-out offering to the Lord.” What did he mean? He was referring to Old Testament offerings of wine to be poured out before the Lord. “I am ready to be poured out. If God doesn’t spare me and bring me back to you, it is all right with me, because to depart is far better” (Philippians 1:20–25; 2:17).
That is a good kind of faith to have. I am trying to produce resilient, enduring Christians who will be a contradiction to this world of softness and soft living, this world that has no ideals, no courage, no faithfulness to their covenants or their vows to God, and who can blow hot one day and cold another.
We are going to walk before the Lord! Iniquity may abound, but we must be determined that our love is not going to wax cold. When it waxes cold, every evil thing comes in to destroy it.
What does Paul say to the Philippians? Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. Philippians 4:1. Stand firm.
You may say, “But I have problems at home. I can hardly handle all the pressures.” I could say to you sarcastically, “Don’t tell me your problems; I have plenty of my own.”
But I will not say that. I will point out something else instead. We are helpers of one another’s faith, so we stand together in it. Do not turn away from anything that you can do for a brother, and do not isolate yourself from the help your brother or sister can give you.
Let me tell you a story found in one of the old Latin schoolbooks—the story of some Christians who were martyred in the region of Gaul.
The Roman soldiers had rounded up one hundred Christians and had built fires around the outside edge of a lake. They herded the Christians out on the frozen lake surrounded by soldiers. Facing the wind of the lake they built a fire and began to roast the food.
The Christians were cold and hungry. The centurion announced, “If you renounce Jesus Christ and pledge allegiance to Caesar only and to the gods, you can eat and your life will be spared.” The Christians began to sing their little chant. “A hundred we are, a hundred are we; Lord grant that we’ll be a hundred when we stand before Thee.”
Soon the cold and hunger began to reach them. One bolted and ran. The song began to change. “A hundred we were, ninety-nine we are; Lord, grant that we’ll be a hundred when we stand before Thee.”
Another bolted and they sang, “Ninety-eight we are; Lord, grant that we’ll be a hundred when we stand before Thee.” The two who had renounced Christ were fed. They were miserable, but they had saved their lives.
Others were dropping in the cold, freezing to death and dying. There were not many of the hundred still alive, but the song came through the cold, “A hundred we were.” Then the centurion unstrapped his sword, and his shield clanged on the ground. Voluntarily he did what he had demanded of the Christians. He stripped off his clothes and walked proudly out to the little band of naked Christians who were dying one by one.
His aide, the one who was right at his side did the same. And the song continued, “A hundred we were, a hundred are we; Lord, grant that we’ll be a hundred when we stand before Thee.”
Soon the centurion and his aide were the only ones singing, “A hundred we were, a hundred are we; Lord, grant that we’ll he a hundred when we stand before Thee.”
This is one of the true stories of the days of martyrdom. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. Hebrews 12:15. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13.