Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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.

If anybody knew about unfair treatment, about a false accusation, about being an innocent victim on the receiving end, it was Joseph. First, he received unfair treatment from his family. His brothers hated him.

Imagine what must have been going through Joseph's mind at this point, shortly after he was incarcerated. He was not only innocent, he had resisted blatant temptation over and over again.

The appeal of sensual lust works like a magnet, drawing two ''sudden and fierce'' forces toward each other—inner desire and an outer bait. Let's face it, you can't escape the bait if you live in the real world.

This is a good time to call to mind several lessons we can learn from Jacob's family and Joseph's adversity. The first is obvious. No enemy is more subtle than passivity. When parents are passive, they may eventually discipline . . .

Before we get better acquainted with Joseph, let's take a quick glance at some background information. It will help if you remember that his biography falls neatly into three distinct segments.

My hope has been to create an appetite for grace that is so strong nothing will restrain us from pursuing the freedom and spontaneity it can bring—a longing so deep that a new spiritual dawn . . . cannot help but burst through the wall of legalism.

When I consider the magnetic effects of gracious giving, four qualities immediately emerge. First, grace is so attractive: Grace individualizes the gift. When you give by grace, you give individually.

The more the grace of God is awakened in a marriage, the less husbands will attempt to control and restrict and the less wives will feel the need to "please no matter what." It makes marriage easier to manage.

One characteristic of a grace awakening ministry deserves special attention: release from past failures. A ministry of grace doesn't keep bringing up the past for the purpose of holding it over people. There is an absence of shame.

Want a boost of encouragement? Our God is working toward that end in all of His children. It is His constant pursuit, His daily agenda, as He points us toward our final destination, ''the Celestial City,'' as Bunyan calls it.