Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Genesis 37-39
Key Verse
Genesis 38:9 — “And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.”
Devotional Thought
Jacob has settled in Canaan, but his household is anything but settled. Joseph, seventeen years old, tends flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah and brings back a bad report about them. Jacob loves Joseph more than his other sons and gives him a coat of many colours, and the brothers hate him for it. Then come the dreams—sheaves bowing, sun and moon and eleven stars making obeisance—and the hatred hardens into conspiracy. Sent to check on his brothers near Shechem, Joseph wanders the fields until a stranger points him toward Dothan. His brothers see him coming and plot to kill him. Reuben intervenes; Judah suggests selling him instead. They strip the coat, drop him in an empty cistern, sit down to eat, and sell him for twenty pieces of silver to Ishmaelite traders bound for Egypt. They dip the coat in goat’s blood and let Jacob believe a wild beast has devoured his son. Meanwhile Judah himself stumbles through his own shame with Tamar, who proves more righteous than he. And Joseph, sold and carried south, ends up in Potiphar’s house—where the text keeps repeating a quiet refrain: the LORD was with Joseph.
That refrain is the hinge of everything. Joseph prospers in Potiphar’s house because God is with him, not because circumstances are kind. When Potiphar’s wife presses him day after day, he refuses: how can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? She seizes his garment, he flees, and she lies. Joseph lands in prison on a false charge—and again, the LORD was with Joseph, and the keeper of the prison commits everything into his hand. Notice what God does not do: He does not prevent the pit, the sale, the slander, or the prison. He goes with Joseph through all of them. This is May, when gardens are green and graduation season hands out diplomas and new beginnings; we tend to read prosperity as proof of God’s favour and hardship as evidence of His absence. Joseph’s story quietly overturns both. The same God who blessed Potiphar’s house for Joseph’s sake was present in the dungeon. If you are in a pit this week—misjudged, betrayed, or waiting without explanation—the refrain still stands. The LORD is with His people, not merely on the far side of deliverance, but in the middle of the pit, the prison, and the long silence in between.
Reflection
- Joseph’s brothers hated him for his father’s favour and his dreams, and their envy hardened into violence; where has envy or favouritism been quietly hardening your own heart toward someone?
- Twice in Genesis 39 we read that the LORD was with Joseph—in Potiphar’s house and in the prison; what would it change in your week to believe God is with you in the prison as much as in the prosperity?
Prayer
Lord, You are the God who was with Joseph in the pit, in Potiphar’s house, and in the prison, and we confess how quickly we measure Your presence by our comfort. When we are envied, misjudged, or falsely accused, keep us from bitterness and from the fear of man. Give us Joseph’s courage to flee temptation and to say no to sin against You. In seasons of waiting and unfair suffering, teach us to trust the refrain of Your Word rather than the report of our circumstances. Be with us as You were with him, and let even our pits become places where Your faithfulness is seen. In Jesus’ name, amen.