Reading… and Thinking

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

— Genesis 39:17-20 (NIV)

Day after day, Potiphar’s wife had tried to seduce Joseph. But going along with her would have been wrong, so Joseph consistently refused. And what was his reward for doing the right thing? He ended up in prison, framed for an offense he did not commit!

This isn’t a problem unique to Joseph. Jeremiah was falsely accused of deserting to the Babylonians, and was nearly killed. Saul falsely accused David of plotting to overthrow him, and David was forced to become a fugitive. Then Saul falsely accused the priest Ahimelech of conspiring against him, and murdered him along with 84 other members of the priestly family. And the ultimate injustice, the Jews falsely accused Jesus of setting himself up as a king in opposition to Caesar – and the Lord of life was executed on this trumped-up charge.

Justice doesn’t always happen to faithful people. The Bible doesn’t duck this issue. A key theme of Peter’s first letter is this kind of unjust persecution. Peter agrees that it’s just not right to suffer for doing right, but note Peter’s conclusion: “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” (1 Peter 2:20) He says similar things 4 other times in the letter, to make sure we get the point. God does not guarantee that you won’t suffer for doing right. But He does guarantee that He takes note of your faithfulness, and will reward it. And, He guarantees that those who persecute His people will be called to account. (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 1:4-10)

Peter gives us the ultimate reason to keep on doing right no matter what – ultimate judgment. And that’s enough. But often, God gives us something more.

Carrying on in Genesis 39, we read: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.” (verses 20-21)

The injustice of the accusation and the imprisonment must have been bitter to Joseph. It wasn’t right that he was a slave in Egypt in the first place, and this was just further indignity, further wrong. But, as Joseph realized later, there was a purpose behind it all, and that purpose was to save many lives. And God was not too busy to notice the injustice, nor was He indifferent about it. He immediately provided a blessing for Joseph. Pretty soon, Joseph was highly trusted, and in a little while he became the one in charge of the prison himself. And within another couple of years, he was second in command of the might of Egypt. If he’d never gone to prison, he never could have risen to that position, and so could never have saved so many lives.

We must never grow tired of doing right, even though it seems to cause us trouble, even though we are falsely accused of wrong. God always takes notice. We need not succumb to the urge to lash out, to defend ourselves, to take it upon ourselves to “make things right”. God will ultimately make all things right. And in the meantime, He may have something in mind for you – you may be an instrument for His good, for the benefit of others!