THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH

 EVENING DEVOTION

SEPTEMBER 28

 

Genesis 39:21

…the LORD was with Joseph, …

 
He had been torn from his father, deprived of his home, sold for a slave, falsely accused, and cast into prison.
 
But the Lord was with him.
 
Many have found the time of greatest trial, the season of peculiar manifestation.
 
When persecuted for righteousness’ sake, a special blessing rests upon us.
 
The Lord’s presence made up for all the losses he sustained, for that will turn a prison into a palace, a dungeon into a paradise.
 
The Lord was with him to sustain him

  —to cheer him

  —to hold communion with him

  —to give him favour with the keeper

  —to teach him lessons of the greatest importance

  —to prepare him to rule over the land of Egypt

  —to make him an example to all who should suffer for his name

  —to bring him forth with honour, and crown him with peculiar dignity.
 
Before exalted he must be humbled.
 
The prison was the direct road to the palace.
 
The way of the cross leads to the crown.
 
If we reign with Christ in heaven, we must suffer with Christ on earth.
 
Beloved, wherever duty leads you, or persecution drives you, the Lord will be with you.
 
His presence is more frequently enjoyed under cloudy circumstances, than when the sun of prosperity shines.
 

Thy gracious presence, O my God.

My every wish contains;

With this beneath affliction’s load,

My heart no more complain.

 
James Smith