RELEASED FROM SHACKLES
Some may be in prison and know what it feels like. But some who’ve
never been in a physical prison can feel locked up as well; whether it’s a job
or a relationship or a bad habit, it can feel as if we can’t get out, and we
hate it and would do just about anything to escape. But what if immediate
escape isn’t in the Lord’s perfect plan for us? You may think: “WHAT?! That
can’t be right;” and yet sometimes it’s true. It was that way with Joseph.
The merchants brought their new slave, Joseph, to Egypt and sold
him to Potiphar, the captain of the guard, and “the Lord made all that he did
to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found
grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house,
and all that he had he put into his hand” (Gen. 39:3-4).
But then Potiphar’s wife set her sights on
Joseph. “And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast
her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me” (Gen. 39:8). Joseph refused, and
she kept coming after him until one day when there were no men in the house,
she grabbed a piece of his clothing, and when he ran away from her, the
clothing was still in her hand. She used this to accuse him to her husband
Potiphar. When Potiphar heard this, he believed his wife’s story and locked
Joseph up in prison.
Joseph found favor in prison and did well, as far
as prison goes. Then he met two other men in prison who were servants of the
King of Egypt. One was a butler and the other a baker. They had dreams they
couldn’t interpret, so Joseph said he’d take it to God and see what the dreams
meant. For the butler, it was good news – he was getting out of prison. He was
thankful, but when he got out, he totally forgot about Joseph.
Here’s where the “what if” comes in. What if the
butler had gotten Joseph out of prison at that time? What if Joseph had been
kindly sent back to his country?
He would have gone back to a family where his
brothers hated him, and his father thought he had been killed by a wild beast.
Talk about a dysfunctional family! Can you imagine the strife between brothers
and father in that family? Then put Joseph in the mix—yikes! And besides that,
the country was descending into a huge gaping famine. God knew all this and
already had a plan in mind. Unfortunately for Joseph, it meant he had to stay
in prison a little longer.
So, as it turns out, the butler forgot about
Joseph, and Joseph was in prison for two more years! But while he was there, he
was promoted, and so he had the best position in the prison, and it wasn’t
nearly as bad as it could have been.
“The Lord was with him; he showed
him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison
warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the
prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
“The warden paid no attention to anything under
Joseph’s care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him
success in whatever he did” (Gen 39:21-23).
Not always, but sometimes maybe our prisons
aren’t nearly as bad as they seem. Check with God for an answer to that. Just
maybe they are temporary, just long enough to get us to the place on the other
side, when the timing for greater things is perfect for us. That’s how it went
with Joseph.
When the King of Egypt had a dream he couldn’t
interpret, the butler remembered Joseph. He finally got him out of prison. And
now, instead of working for the king’s captain, Potiphar, Joseph was working
for the king himself! And in an instant, he was put in a wealthy position at
the very head of the country. God gave him the revelation of how to store up
huge amounts of sustainable food for many years to come. Not only did Egypt
prosper under Joseph, but Joseph was able to reconcile with his family and save
them from the famine as well.
So if we feel like we are in prison and we’ve prayed and done
everything we can to get out, and it’s just not happening, what do we do? We
ask God if it is where we are supposed to be for now. Then we ask Him to bless
us somehow in the midst of prison if he hasn’t given us an escape yet. Our Lord
will answer. When Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, they
didn’t just stay quiet and acquiesce. They fought back, not physically, but
loudly with the truth. They started praying and belted out a Bible tune at
midnight! There was an earthquake, and everyone’s restraints were loosed, and
then people got born again! They were overnight in the jail, but the next day or so, they were out and on their way to
new adventures.
“And at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners
heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every
one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26).
The Bible gives us many
scenarios of life and God’s answers in each situation. We hope one of those
good answers we see in the Bible will be our key out of prison too. And in Hebrews
11:1, the Lord tells us this: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.” Faith is substance; faith is a title deed to
the hopes we have. We will be released from any shackles because God has placed
faith in our genes through the seed He gave us when we accepted Jesus Christ
into our lives, and that means into every good cell in our body and soul. Our
cells were made to serve the Lord and Him alone.
Love, Carolyn
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