among the garbage and the flowers

The Word for today:
Genesis 41:14-57

Victimhood.
Joseph had ample reason for self-pity, rage, anger with God, and revenge. He had immense reasons to become enslaved to victimhood. But there is not a "poor me" hint anywhere in the entire Genesis account of Joseph. Though enslaved, Joseph chose to reject the slavery of self-pity and victimhood.

Through it all, he believed that the LORD was with him.
See the incident with Potiphar's wife: the story is bracketed by the reason for Joseph's success in 39:2, 21, 23:

The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (Genesis 39:2)

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Genesis 39:21)

The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. (Genesis 39:23)

Your Bible says the same about you:
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).
(Matthew 1:22-23)

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

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Never once, whether in prosperity or adversity, had Joseph doubted God. Ripped out of his house at 17, hauled down to Egypt, one thing after another happening to him--and yet he believed God was with him. He had sensed and appropriated God's presence in every circumstance.

Among the garbage and the flowers...
Joseph's life teaches us that life is full of inequities and unfairness and tragedies. But it also teaches us that we have a great God who is with us, working amidst the rich compost of human life to do his will.

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