God is with his chosen ruler

This is in the Bible in Genesis 39

Today’s true Bible story helps us think about how Joseph and Jesus both were not guilty but punished for something they hadn’t done.

Joseph had been taken to Egypt and sold as a slave to Potiphar the officer of the king of Egypt and the captain of the palace guard. Potiphar gave orders to Joseph.
Joseph did well because the Lord was with him.

Potiphar could see that Joseph was different and that the Lord made Joseph successful. So Potiphar said “I am putting you in charge of everything I own. I will not be worried about anything. I can trust you with everything I own. I know that the Lord is with you.” So Joseph was in charge of everything in Potiphar’s house. And the Lord blessed the people in Potiphar’s house because of Joseph.

But one day Potiphar’s wife saw how gorgeous and handsome Joseph was. She really liked him & wanted to kiss him!

But Joseph said “No ma’am. That is wrong! My master trusts me and he has put me in charge of everything he owns. There is no-one in this house greater than I. He has not kept anything from me except you and that is because you are his wife. How can I do such an evil thing? It is a sin against God.” But Potiphar’s wife wouldn’t take no for an answer. She kept on and on!

One day Joseph went into the house to do his work as usual. All the other servants were outside doing other jobs. Potiphar’s wife grabbed his coat and tried to kiss him “No ma’am.” Joseph said “That is wrong! It is a sin against God” And he ran off leaving his coat behind.

Now Potiphar’s wife was really angry. She screamed for her servants and told them Joseph had tried to kiss her! She was so angry she lied to her servants.

And then she lied to her husband Potiphar “That slave Joseph that you brought here, tried to kiss me and I screamed for help and he ran off leaving his coat!” she said. Potiphar believed his wife and was so angry that he arrested Joseph and put him in prison where the king’s prisoners were kept.

Now even though this looks like a disaster God was still in charge because nothing takes God by surprise; in fact God had planned all this.

Joseph was in prison and God was still with Joseph. He had a job for Joseph to do and he was going to make sure his plans happened.

God made the prison guard like Joseph. He could see that Joseph was different and that the Lord made Joseph successful. And then he said “I am putting you in charge of everything. I will not be worried about anything. I can trust you with everything. I know that the Lord is with you.”

Joseph was given the job of taking care of all the prisoners and because the Lord was with Joseph he was successful in everything.

Joseph was punished even though he had done nothing wrong. And Joseph points us to Jesus who also as God’s chosen ruler was punished even though he had done nothing wrong. That was part of God’s big plan for the world. So we can think about why Jesus did that for us? The Bible tells us Jesus was punished for us to bring us to God.