Genesis 39:2

Here is the explanation of all that happened: "The Lord was with Joseph." That being so, all he did prospered. Even what looked like disaster proved to be only a stepping-stone to something much better. Potiphar did not know the explanation of it, but he found he had made a first-rate bargain when he bought the young Semitic lad. The boy showed such skilful powers, together with God-fearing uprightness and integrity.

The Egyptian never expected the treasure that one small purchase brought into his house. But the explanation is not hard to find, and it makes everything clear. "Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." Never before was the word so emphatic. This does not mean Jehovah had been absent before, at home or abroad. Jehovah was with him when he gained his father's confidence and love. Jehovah was with him when by his faithfulness he earned the envy and hatred of his brothers. But now the words carry marked force: he is a slave in a strange land. But Jehovah was with him all the more because the need was greater.

The submissive man will always be a prosperous man. Nature would say that slavery and prosperity can never go together. But if we submit to His ways, the presence of the Lord can turn days of hardship into days of prosperity. The whole world would admit that Joseph was a prosperous man in the day of his exaltation. But faith sees, and God declares, that he was a prosperous man in the day of his humiliation. He will, in due time, ride prosperously as the ruler of Egypt, but first he must live prosperously as the slave of an Egyptian. The prosperity of the prison must come before the prosperity of the palace.

Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard. But the Lord was with him (v. 2). He had suffered injustice, and had lost every connection with relatives and friends. The Lord delights to encourage the lonely and deprived. The result was that he was faithful and dependable in his work, prospering in it, though he was a slave.

His testimony was the testimony of his life, not his lips. What struck Potiphar was what he saw, not what he heard. If Joseph had spent his time complaining about his hard lot, or talking up his high destiny, he would have been no witness for the Lord in Potiphar's house. The Egyptian cared nothing about Joseph's past. Even if someone had explained his future to him, he would have understood none of it. But Potiphar could see and value his daily life of wholehearted attention to his duties. A Christian servant who lives a quiet, consistent, uncomplaining life and carries out his daily duties is a true witness for the Lord. That is something an unconverted master can value.

But Jehovah was with Joseph in the prison, just as much as in Potiphar's house. Verse 2 says He was with Joseph. Verse 21 says He was with Joseph, "and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." It mattered little where he was, since Jehovah was with him. What a difference it makes when God is with us — and God in that special, known relationship, which the name "Jehovah" carries here as everywhere.