Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Suddenly, this great man, this strong-hearted and efficient prime minister of a mighty nation, collapsed inside. Like the rest of us, great men and women encounter those times in life when they can no longer restrain their emotions.

Guilt always does a number on us. It certainly did on Joseph's brothers. Though standing before an unnamed, soft-spoken servant from Egypt, whom they had never really known throughout their lives, they poured out their confession.

I wonder what those ten men, those ten grown sons of Jacob, talked about during that journey from Canaan to Egypt. I have an idea that it might have been the same things we would have talked about had we been in their sandals.

Judah put it on the line. "You can't continue to delay and deny the situation. I'll take responsibility for Benjamin's life. If anything happens to him, I will bear the consequences for the rest of my days. Come on, Dad, let's cooperate."

When Jacob learned what had happened, the old gentleman shriveled in fear. Rather than saying, "Thank God, He is at work. Men, He loves us and watches over us. In His care we are all safe," he responded negatively and horizontaIly.

Joseph's brothers wanted to get out of Egypt, like, fast. When the sacks of grain were loaded on their donkeys, they immediately began their journey back to Canaan. But something happened on the first night.

When you have done wrong to someone and haven't gone through the necessary process to make things right with them and with God—when you haven't fully dealt with your transgression—you become the victim of the very distress that you put that person through.

Put yourself in Joseph's sandals. How must he have felt as he heard their words? So far as his brothers were concerned, he no longer existed! He was buried in the graveyard of their memories. He was "no more."

If I read these verses correctly this was a widespread famine such as the world had never known, for it says, "The famine was spread over all the face of the earth." In these circumstances what did Joseph do?

God guided the writer of Genesis to reveal the truth about most every area of Joseph's colorful life. He allows us to see what the man was really like inside, even what he was thinking. We can sum it up in one sentence.

This is an excellent opportunity to shift the scene for a moment and look at all this from the perspective of the guy who's out working in the fields, moving stones for one of those interminable, ever-ongoing pyramid projects.

Pharaoh swept his hand out wide, so as to include all that vast land of Egypt, and said, "It's all yours, Joseph." Then he took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's hand. You know what that ring signified, don't you?

There stood Joseph right before him, meeting all the requirements. But even then, when it seemed appropriate for Joseph to volunteer, he restrained. The king, however, knew Joseph was the man for the job.

After those two full years, Joseph experienced a turning point in his life—on a day that seemed like any other day. That morning dawned like every other morning over the previous two years.

The process of discovering, processing, purifying, and shaping gold is a lengthy, painstaking process. Affliction is gold in the making for the child of God, and God is the one who determines how long the process takes.

When Joseph saw the cupbearer taken from the prison, he must have thought, Now's my chance! This guy has Pharaoh's ear. He'll get me out of here. We don't know whether Joseph knew what happened to these men.

Pain, when properly handled, can shape a life for greatness. History is replete with stories of those whose struggles and scars formed the foundation for remarkable achievements.

I smile as I read this, because if anybody ought to have had a sad face, it should have been Joseph. His plight was much worse than theirs. They were there on a whim of the Pharaoh and surely would not be there forever.

A cupbearer was the person who tasted the wine and food of the king before he ate or drank. That way, if it was poisoned, "So long, cupbearer," but "Long live Pharaoh!" He also would not allow poorly prepared food to be served . . .

Twice we read in that short account, "The Lord was with Joseph." Joseph began to see the hand of God in his prison experience. In what could have been the direst of positions, the dreariest of places, Joseph prospered.