STRANDED

STRANDED

READ:
Genesis 39:19-23

The LORD was with Joseph and
showed him mercy. -Genesis 39:21

Traveling by bus from Memphis, Tennessee, to St. Louis, Missouri, typically takes about 6 hours-unless the bus driver leaves you stranded at a gas station.  This happened to 45 passengers aboard a bus who waited 8 hours overnight for a replacement driver after the original driver abandoned them.  They must have felt frustrated by the delay, anxious about the outcome, and impatient for rescue.

Joseph probably shared those feelings when he landed in prison for a crime he didn't commit (Genesis 39).  Abandoned and forgotten by any human who might help him he was stranded.  Still, "the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor" (v.21).  Eventually, the prison warden promoted Joseph to oversee fellow inmates, and whatever Joseph did, "the LORD made it prosper" (v.23).  But despite God's presence and blessing, Joseph remained incarcerated for years.

You may be stranded in a hospital room, a jail cell, a country far from home, or your own inner prison.  No matter where you are, or how long you've been there, God's mercy and kindness can reach you.  Because He is God Almighty (Exodus 6:3) and present everywhere (Jeremiah 23: 23-24), He can protect, promote, and provide for you when it seems no one else can help. -Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear God, help us to remember
Your presence and power even when
we are not where we want to be in life.  Remind us
to reach for You when no one else can reach us.
******************************************
God is present-even when we feel He is absent.

INSIGHT
Genesis 39 covers 10 years of Joseph's life.  It begins with him being sold into slavery by his brothers and ends with him being unjustly thrown into prison.  In between, he was a slave in Egypt, serving in Pharaoh's house.  He had learned to serve and to lead.  Most important, he had learned to live in the presence of God-a reality that is mentioned no less than four times in this chapter (vv. 2, 3, 21, 23).  Whether Joseph was a slave or a prisoner, the one constant was God's presence in his life-a lesson he may never have learned had he not been forced to go to Egypt as a slave and experienced numerous betrayals.

Have a blessed day.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace