Joseph kept his faith, though I’m sure he was a bit confused as to why God would had given him his dreams. Joseph, now a slave, put his whole self into his work. He was living Colossians 3:23. Because of his extraordinary work, Joseph climbed the ladder and was promoted to head servant. Now he was starting to get somewhere. Yeah, he was still a slave, but he was in charge! Along comes Potiphar’s wife.
Betrayed by a liar! If I’d been Joseph I would have been so angry with God. “I was wronged!” How is it that evil doers seem to win and those, in the right, get punished? This was the case for Joseph. Faced with temptation, he made the moral choice – the right choice. (He didn’t buy into the lie that “he deserved this.”) Still he was sentenced to prison. Lower than ever before and even farther from his dreams, Joseph kept believing that God would use him. “And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.”
Of course we all know the rest of the story; Joseph interprets a dream for the cup-bearer, who in-turn forgets his promise to mention Josephs plight to the Pharaoh. Two years pass by. The cup-bearer finally remembers Joseph. Joseph interprets the Pharaohs dreams and is put in charge of Egypt! (That was when Egyptians still liked their leaders.) Joseph was in charge of the whole country! Finally! He made it! He’d “arrived.” “His ship had come in.”
We look at Joseph’s story and see how Joseph took 2 steps forward and 11 steps back. God used some very frustrating circumstances in Joseph’s life before realizing Joseph’s dreams. But the final step in Joseph’s journey is not the only point to his life. Joseph made a big difference EVERYWHERE he was placed. When a slave, he worked as if he was working for the Lord. God used this to make a difference in Potiphar who, “Realized that the Lord was with Joseph.” In the prison “the Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.” God also made Himself real to the Pharaoh who “gave Joseph a new name Zaphenath-paneah” which means “God speaks and lives.” All around Joseph’s shattered dreams, people witnessed the hope of God because Joseph honored and believed God.