LESSONS FROM JOSEPH PART 2 – GROWTH BEGINS ON THE INSIDE

Welcome back to our study on Joseph. Be sure to check out the part 1 of this post and share your thoughts. Today we would review why God allowed Joseph spend time in prison.

Why would God want Joseph in prison? Why has He allowed these circumstances that bring Joseph into the prison? Is it just so he can meet the butler who would later introduce him to the king?  I personally don’t think so, I believe God could have brought that connection to him while in Potiphar’s house. I believe God wanted Joseph in prison in other to take him away from legitimate activities that prevented him from focusing on the inward growth required in order to step into his purpose. Why do I think so?

 Genesis 40:  ¹⁴ But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

¹⁵ For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

In these verses, we see Joseph asking the butler for kindness and help to get him out of prison. Two years later, Joseph gets the opportunity to stand before Pharaoh, he gets to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and he never asked for freedom in exchange for his service, he didn’t ask for any favours or pardon from the king. I couldn’t help but question, what had changed in these two year. Joseph, he had changed. Something on the inside of him had changed. Joseph had gotten into a place of rest where he had ceased from his works. He had stopped trying to get out of prison by himself, he had stopped asking for help and was at a place where he trusted God to do what was best.  At the place of rest where Joseph stopped trying to get himself out, he finally gave God permission to work.

Hebrews 4: 10 – 11 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief

Labour – this was the reason God moved Joseph from Potiphar’s house to the prison. There is a labour required to enter into rest. It is an internal labour where we work the word into our heart and uproot unbelief in our hearts. It is the place where we confront unbelief and questions that feed fear with Gods word. It is the place where we eat the word, it is a place of stillness and quietness where we identify the walls or unbelief in our souls and make the choice to pull them down with the word. It is an internal work which it requires focus and strength.

It is so easy to be so distracted by the legitimate cares and activities of life that we never pay attention to laboring in the inside. It can be challenging for some of us to find time and sit still long enough to know what is going on at the core of our beings. We tend to focus so much on the outwards and we struggle to produce on the outside who we have not become on the inside. Because many of us have not cultivated the habit of building our inward man first, or have not cultivated the habit of doing the work first on the inside, God in His infinite mercy sometimes uses circumstances to force us to pay attention to the inside. He brings us into places where we learn to stop, a place where we can be still 

In Potiphar’s house Joseph was blessed, he was in charge of the entire household. Joseph was also busy. He was in charge of every aspect of running the house; the other slaves, the farms, the poultry, everything was in his care. Joseph was at a good place. But it would have been easy for Joseph to not deal with the hurt and pain of betrayal from being sold by his brothers. It would be so easy to just bury himself in work and ignore or try to forget about that pain. But God needed him to: –

Deal with the hurt – His purpose was tied to helping those who hurt him, he would never be able to do that if he still had hurt in his heart against them

Stop trying to get himself out – Joseph had no idea where God was taking him too. Although he made the best out of every situation, he still sort freedom. He did what he knew too do in order to get out of prison. Joseph needed to stop trying in order for God to work.

Becoming whole on the inside and entering into the place of rest are both internal jobs. I believe God intentionally withdrew Joseph from a place of intense outward activities to a place that provided him enough time to grow in the inside. Joseph grew inwardly to become a vessel that could carry the new wine God wanted to pour into him. And when he was fully transformed on the inside, he positioned him to do outwardly what he had become on the inside.

Withdraw, be still, labour to enter into rest. No matter how busy you are, I think it is important for us to block time to be still. Be in-touch with the core of you, deal with the issues on the inside, be transformed on the inside. Let us withdraw from just working outwardly and allow God mold us into new vessels, strong enough to hold new wine. Let us quality spend time with God, so we can build the inward capacity to carry the blessings he so desires to pour into our lives. Growth begins on the inside.

Love Always