Part 40
calling Grace, forgiving Grace, renewing Grace, preserving Grace,
sanctifying Grace, perfecting Grace, Grace upon Grace, Grace that
leads to Heaven! O Beloved, all this Grace is yours and surely there
is Grace enough for you! Why do you fear that you will fail? Will
God's Grace fail you? Will God's Grace forsake you and permit
you to perish by the hand of the enemy? No, verily, then let each
Believer say to Him,
"Your Grace is enough for me." Miss Havergal next writes–
"It is so sweet to trust Your Word alone–
I do not ask to see
The unveiling of Your purpose, or the shining
Of future light on mysteries untwining–
Your promise-roll is all my own!
Your Word is enough for me!"
It is very sweet to be able to say of the Lord's promise, "That is
enough for me–even if I do not see the fulfillment of it for many a
day–the promise itself is enough for me. If the Lord seems to do
nothing at all for my help, yet, since He has said, 'I will never leave
you, nor forsake you,' His Word is enough for me." Why, Beloved,
you sometimes make a man's word enough for you–the word of a
man whom you can trust. And you say, "His word is his bond." But
God's Word is backed by His oath–is not that Word enough for
you? If so, why do you fret and worry? Rather, you should say to
the Lord, "Your Word is enough for me."
Then the gracious poetess continues–
"The human heart asks love, but now I know
That my heart has from You,
All real, and full, and marvelous affection,
So near, so human yet Divine perfection
Thrills gloriously the mighty glow!
Your love is enough for me!
Can you say that–you who have loss some dear one, you who are
widowed, you who are childless, you who have been deceived and
forsaken–"a woman of a sorrowful spirit"–a man cast down and
lonely? Is God's love enough for you? It ought to be, for if all the
loves of husbands, wives, lovers, mothers, fathers and children
were distilled and the quintessence taken out, it would be but water
as compared with the generous wine of God's love! Does God love
me? Then, if all the world shall hate me, it matters no more to me
than if a single drop of gall should fall into an Atlantic full of
sweetness and bliss! This light affliction, which is but for a
moment, is not worthy to be compared with the exceeding glory of
being loved of God! Yes, my Lord, "Your love is enough for me."
It is a great heart that God's love cannot fill–no, I must correct
myself and say that it is a base heart–a wicked heart–an unrenewed
heart that could not be filled with God's love! It is not a broken
heart, but a divided heart. And when the heart is divided, it does not
retain the love of God. Oh, for a heart united to the heart of God!
Then shall I say to Him–
"Your love is enough for me!"
The sweet poem closes thus–
"There were strange soul-depths, restless, vast and broad–
Unfathomed as the sea!
An infinite craving for some infinite stilling–
But now Your perfect love is perfect filling!
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God,
You, You are enough for me!"
So may it be with each of us, for Christ's sake! Amen.
Ge 35:1 • Family Reformation; or, Jacob's Second Visit to Bethel
ERMON 1395
Family Reformation—Or, Jacob's Second Visit To Bethel
"And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell
there."
Genesis 35:1
THERE are critical times in most families–times when much
decision of character will be needed on the part of the father to
guide things aright. They say there is a skeleton in every closet and,
if so, I would add that occasionally the unquiet spirit takes to
troubling the household and needs to be laid low. There are times
when the evil in the hearts of the children and in the nature of the
parents becomes especially energetic and brings about difficulties
and perplexities, so that if a wrong turn were taken, the most
fearful mischief would ensue. And yet, if there is Divine Grace in
the hearts of some or all of the family, a strong and gracious hand
at the helm of the ship may steer it right gallantly through the
broken waters and bring it safely out of its dangers to pursue its
journey much more happily in the future.
Now, such a crisis had come to Jacob's family–things had reached
a sad pass and something had to be done. Everything seemed out of
gear and matters could not continue any longer as they were. All
was out of order and threatened to become much worse. Even the
heathen began to smell the ill savor of Jacob's disorganized family
and the one alternative was mend or end. A stand must be taken by
the head of the house. There must be reform in the household and a
revival of religion throughout the whole family. If you notice,
Jacob himself was in a bad way. His business was to remain in
Canaan a mere sojourner, dwelling in tents, not one of the people,
but moving about among them, testifying that he looked for "a city
that has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
He expected to inherit the land, but, for the time being, he was to
be a stranger and a sojourner as his fathers Abraham and Isaac had
been. Yet at Succoth we read that he built booths–scarcely houses, I
suppose–but more than tents. It was a compromise and a
compromise is often worse than a direct and overt disobedience of
a command. He dares not erect a house, but he builds a booth and
thus shows his desire for a settled life. And though it is not ours to
judge the purchase of land at Shechem, still, it looks in the same
direction. Jacob is endeavoring to find a resting place where
Abraham and Isaac had none. I will not speak too negatively, but
the Patriarch's acts look as if he desired to find a house for himself
where he might rest and be on familiar terms with the inhabitants
of the land.
Now the Lord his God would not have it so. The chosen family
was intended, by the Divine purpose, to dwell alone and maintain a
peculiar walk of separation. The seed of Abraham was ordained to
be, in the highest sense, a Nonconformist tribe, a race of
separatists! Their God meant them to be a distinct people, entirely
severed from all the nations among whom they dwelt and so they
must be. But the inclination to be like their neighbors was very
manifest in Jacob's family. The spell of Esau's greatness had, no
doubt, affected the clan of Jacob. They had, from the Patriarch,
himself, down to the youngest child, made very willing obeisance
before "my lord Esau," and the homage paid was not without its
effect.
That obeisance was an act which, from some points of view, we
cannot condemn, but it was scarcely becoming in one who was a
Prince with God and elect of the Most High–and its effect could not
have been elevating. The sons seem to have taken very readily to
paying homage to profane Esau, though they were not little
children, but young men. They bowed before their noble-looking
uncle with his grand band of warriors and were, perhaps, fascinated
by the charms of so warlike a member of the family, whose sons
were dukes and great ones in the land. It added importance to the
shepherds to feel that they were related to a great captain!
Now that they had come to Shechem and their father had
purchased a piece of land there and had built booths, they felt
themselves to be of some importance–and they must go visiting, for
everybody loves society. And now comes the mischief of it. Jacob's
only daughter must visit with the prince of the people. The
daughter of Israel is invited to the dances and the assemblies of the
upper circles of the land. It is winked at by the father, possibly, and
the brothers aid and abet it. She is often away at the residence of
Shechem, the fine young Hivite prince, a very respectable
gentleman, indeed, with a mansion and estates. But there comes an
evil matter of it not to be mentioned.
Then her brothers, in their hot anger, run into a sin that was quite
as evil as Shechem's crime, by way of making some amends for
their sister's defilement. With dastardly treachery they slay the
whole of the Shechemites and so bring the guilt of murder upon a
family which ought to have been holiness unto the Lord! Children
of God cannot mix with the world without mischief! The world
does hurt to us and we to it when once we begin to be of the world
and like it. It is an ill-assorted match. Fire and water were never
meant to be blended. The seed of the woman must not mix with the
seed of the serpent. It was when the sons of God saw the daughters
of men, that they were fair, and took of them as they pleased, that
the deluge came and swept away the population of the earth.
Abundant evil comes of joining together what God has put
asunder. The corpses of the Shechemites and the indignation of all
who heard of the foul deed were the direct result of the attempt to
blend Israel with Canaan! And now Jacob's household is filled with
fear and the old man, himself–a grand man and a Believer, but a
long way off from being perfect–cries out to his sons, in great
distress, "You have troubled me to make me to stink among the
inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites!
And I, being few in number, they shall gather themselves together
against me and slay me. And I shall be destroyed, I and my house."
To this his sons only replied, "Should he deal with our sister as
with an harlot?"–taking his rebuke in a rough fashion and by no
means showing any sense of shame.
They do not appear to have been the worst of his sons and yet
their rage and cruelty were most terrible. And when they were
charged with their crime they justified it. Wretched, indeed, was the
condition of Jacob's household! That family was badly arranged
from the very beginning. Polygamy needed not to be denounced in
so many words in Scripture, because the specimens given of it are
all so thoroughly bad that no one can doubt that the thing is
radically vicious in its mildest form. It worked shockingly in the
case of Jacob. His wife Rachel, whom he loved so well, had, I fear,
been the cause of the introduction into the family of idolatry in the
form of teraph, or symbol-worship. She had learned it from her
father, Laban, and secretly practiced it. And if Jacob was aware of
it, he did not like to say anything to her, his darling, the queen of
his soul.
Those bright eyes which had charmed him years ago–how could
he dim them with tears? The children of Leah took up their
mother's cause and the sons of the handmaids sided with each
other–and this made trouble. The many mothers of the family
created difficulties and complications of all sorts, so that the
household was hard to arrange and keep in good order. It was not
what a believing household should be and it is not amazing at all
that affairs so thoroughly went awry that it appeared as if even the
salt was losing its savor and the good seed was dying before it
could be sown in the earth and made to bring forth fruit! A stand
must be made. Something had to be done and Jacob must do it.
The Lord comes and He speaks with Jacob. And since the good
man's heart was sound towards God's statutes, the Lord had only to
speak to him and he obeyed. He was pulled up short and made to
look at things and set his house in order. And he did so with that
resolution of character which comes out in Jacob when he is
brought into a strait, but which at other times is not perceptible. We
shall take up this incident at this time and may God grant that we
may find practical teaching in it for ourselves and for our families,
by the guidance of His gracious Spirit.
Notice, first, God having appeared to Jacob–what was to be done?
Secondly, what happened in the doing of it? And thirdly, what
followed.
First, then, WHAT WAS TO BE DONE? The first thing to do was
to make a decided move. God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel
and dwell there." You must hasten away from Shechem, with its
fertile plains, and make a mountain journey up to Bethel and dwell
there. You have been long enough near these Shechemites.
Mischief has come from your being so intimate with the world. You
must cut a trench between yourselves and the associations you have
formed and you must go up to Bethel and remain there.
Every now and then, dear Brothers and Sisters, we shall find it
necessary to say to ourselves and to our family, "We must come out
from among worldlings. We must be separate. We are forming
connections which are injurious to us and we must snap the
deceitful bonds. We are being led into habits and customs in the
management of the household which are not such as God would
approve. We are doing this to secure favor of one and doing that to
escape frowns from another–and we are not walking straight with
the Lord–therefore, to bring us back to our moorings, we must
come right out and go to Bethel, to the place where God met with
us at the first. We must go to our first trysting place and meet with
our Lord again, cost whatever the journey may.
"Though some may feel it to be a cross, yet we must begin again
and work upon the old lines. Back to our old Puritanism and
precision we must go and renew our vows. Let us go right away
from worldliness and get to the Bethel of separation and draw near
to God again." Have you ever found, Beloved, when you have been
very deep in business and very much in the world that you begin to
feel heart-sick and cry, "It won't do, I must get out of this! I must
retreat into a holy solitude and enjoy a little quiet communion with
God"? Have you not sometimes felt, concerning your family, "We
are not serving the Lord aright, nor becoming more holy or
devoted. Everything appears to be going downhill. We must steer
the other way. We must alter our present declining state, in the
name of God, or else we cannot expect to have His blessing." I
know that you have come to such a place and have resolved to take
a decided step. May the Lord help all of us when we see clearly
that something is to be done. May we have Grace to end sinful
hesitation and set about amendment at all hazards.
Now they must revive old memories. "Go up to Bethel and dwell
there. And make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto you
when you fled from the face of Esau, your brother." A revival of
old memories is often most useful to us, especially to revive the
memory of our conversion. The memory of the love of our
espousals, when we went after the Lord into the wilderness and
were quite satisfied to be denied and disowned of all–so long as we
might but dwell near to Him–that memory is right good for us! It is
well to recall that hallowed hour when we, for the first time, set up
a family altar and with our dear ones bowed before the Lord! Then
we felt that the separated place was a very sweet one and we were
most glad to get right away from the world and to live with Christ
and in Christ and for Christ and like Christ.
We cannot help blushing as we remember those early days. We
did not think that we should have fallen so far short of our ideal.
Let the recollection of Bethel, then, come over us to make us
remember the loving kindness of the Lord and mourn over our own
spiritual declensions. Are you singing–
"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed,
How sweet their memory still,
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill"?
Then you must come back to your first hours of communion.
Where you lost your joy you will find it, for it remains where you
left it! If you have neglected your prayer closet. If you have ceased
from the searching of the Word of God. If you have departed from
a close walking with Christ and if you and your families have
fallen into a very low state, so that strangers who look in would
hardly know whether yours is a godly house or not–if it is so, then
go back mourning and sighing to Bethel and pray that the old
feelings may be revived in you. God grant they may!
And may you, in addition, be led to cry, "How could I have
departed so much from the living God? How could I have played
the fool and gadded about so much when I might have rested still,
in peace, if I had lived near to God?" This, then, was the work
which was to be done by Jacob. He had to, first, make a decided
move and, secondly, to revive old memories! Have you any call to
the same course of action? If so, see you do it. But now, again,
Jacob must keep an old vow. I do not quite remember how many
years old that vow was, but I suppose some 30 or so. Yet he had not
kept it. He was much younger when he knelt and said, "If You will
be with me," and so on, "then this place shall be God's house."
He has forgotten that vow, or at least he has not fulfilled it all
these years. Be very slow to make vows, Brothers and Sisters–very
slow. They should be but very seldom made because all that you
can do for God you are bound to do as it is–and a vow is often a
superfluity of superstition. But if the vow is made, let it not wait
beyond its time and complain to your God. An old and forgotten
vow will rot and breed most solemn discomfort to your heart. At
first it will gnaw at your conscience. And if your conscience, at
last, grows hardened to it, others of your powers will suffer the
same petrifying process. Moreover, a forgotten vow will bring
chastisement on you and perhaps the rod will fall upon your family.
The connection between Jacob's not going to Bethel and the
mischief that happened to his daughter, Dinah, and the sinning of
his sons, Levi and Simeon, may not be distinctly traceable, but I
feel persuaded that there was a connection–the sin of omission in
the father led on to sins of commission in the sons. With the sins of
his children, the Lord chastened puts him in a position in which he
will remind himself of it. It is so gentle–I was going to say so
courteous of our God–He is so gentle, so tender, that He would
rather His servant should remember the vow than be distinctly told
of it in so many words. See, then, Jacob is bound to go and do
according to his solemn pledge.
Now, dear Friend, it may be that part of the business you and I
have to do in order to set our families right is to remember
something we said we would do years ago but which we have not
done. We have had the ability for a long while, but the willingness
has not been with us. Let us now bestir ourselves and clear our
consciences in the matter. God alone knows of it–let not this secret
thing lie festering in our hearts and grieving the Holy Spirit! I
speak, I believe, very closely home to some of my hearers. Perhaps
the message is sufficiently distinct and I had better say no more.
Let your own hearts remember your neglected promises.
It appeared to Jacob, next, that if he was to fulfill his vow, it was
necessary to reform his whole house, for he could not serve the
Lord and worship other gods. He said to all that were with him–to
his sons first and then to his hired servants and the rest–"Put away
the strange gods that are among you." Yes, it must come to that! If I
am to get back to my old position with God I must break my idols–
"The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from its throne,
And worship only Thee."
The idols of the family–the acts and deeds of the young folk
which would grieve God, the doings of the elder ones which are
inconsistent with a profession of faith in Jesus, the ill tempers that
have been indulged, the divisions of heart which have come up in
the family–all that is sinful and unlovely must go, if we are to get
right again. There must be a general breaking and burying of idols,
or we cannot worship the God of Bethel!
And next Jacob said, "Be clean." There was to be, I suppose, a
general washing indicative of purgation of character by going to
God with repentance and seeking forgiveness. Jacob also said,
"Change your garments." This was symbolic of an entire renewal
of life, though I fear they were not all renewed. At any rate, this is
what was symbolized by, "Change your garments." Alas, it is easier
to say this to our families than it is to get them to do it! And do we
wonder since it is so much easier for ourselves to say than it is for
ourselves to do! Yet, Beloved, if your walk is to be close with God.
If you are to commune with the God of Bethel, you must be
cleansed. The Lord cannot commune with us while we wallow in
sin. "What accord has Christ with Belial?"
Sin must be put away! The best Believer that lives must wash his
feet if he is to draw near to God as he has done before. All this
Jacob was to undertake and to him, who had become so lax with
his family, it was no small work to screw up his courage and say to
Rachel and all of them–"Put away the strange gods that are among
you and be clean. And change your garments." Well, then, the next
and last thing which they were to do was to celebrate special
worship. "Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an
altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress and was
with me in the way which I went."
When we get wrong and feel that there must be a decided change,
we must set apart special times of devotion. We must say to our
soul, "Soul, Soul you have fed so little lately. This leanness of
yours comes of neglecting spiritual feasting. Come, you must
humble yourself! You must lay yourself low before God. You must
approach the Lord with lowly reverence and beg to be refreshed
with His Presence. You must set apart more time for feeding upon
Christ and upon His Word. You must never be quiet till you
become, again, full of Divine Grace and of the Holy Spirit." In
families it is often well, when you see that things are wrong, just to
call the household together and say, "We must draw near unto God
with peculiar earnestness, for we are going astray. We have not
given up family prayer, but we must now make it special and with
double zeal draw near unto God."
I am afraid that some of you neglect family prayer. If you do I am
sure it will work evil in your households. The practice of family
prayer is the castle of Protestantism. It is the grand defense against
all attacks by a priestly caste who set up their temples and tell us to
pray there and pray by their mediation. No, but our homes are
temples and every man is a priest in his own house! This is a
brazen wall of defense against superstition and priestcraft! Family
prayer is the nutriment of family piety and woe to those who allow
it to cease!
I read the other day of parents who said they could not have
family prayer. Someone asked this question, "If you smitten down
with fever each morning that you neglected prayer, what then?"
Oh, then they would have it. "And if there were a law that you
should be fined five shillings if you did not meet for prayer, would
you find time for it?" Yes. "And if there were five pounds given to
all who had family prayer, would you not by some means arrange
to have it?" Yes. And so the enquirer went on with many questions
and wound up with this last one–"Then is it not just an idle excuse
when you, who profess to be servants of God, say that you have no
time or opportunity for family prayer?"
Should idle excuses rob God of His worship and our families of a
blessing? Begin to pray in your families and especially if things
have gone wrong, get them right by drawing near to God more
distinctly. Did I hear you say, "We do not want to be formalists."
No, I am not afraid you would be! I am afraid of your neglecting
anything that tends towards the good of your household and your
own spiritual growth and, therefore, I pray you labor at once to
acquaint yourselves with God and be at peace. Draw near the Lord,
again, more thoroughly than you have done before, for it is the only
way by which the backslidings of persons and families are at all
likely to be corrected! God grant a blessing with these words by the
power of His Holy Spirit.
II. And now I come to my second point–WHAT HAPPENED IN
THE DOING OF IT? Well, several things happened and one or two
of those were rather surprising. The first was that all heartily
entered into the reforming work. I am sure they did, because the 4
th verse says, "They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which
were in their hands"–allof them–"and all their earrings which were
in their ears." He had not said anything about their earrings. Was
there any harm in their earrings? For a woman to wear an earring is
not such a dreadful thing, is it? Perhaps not, but I suppose that
these earrings were charms and that they were used in certain
incantations and heathenish customs. It must have been a very sad
discovery to Jacob, who himself could not have endured it, to find
that wicked superstitions had come into his tents through his
winking at the teraphs.
The evil had gone on in secret and though suspected, was not
actually under Jacob's eye. I dare say he was not quite sure that the
teraphs were in the tent and did not want to be quite sure, because it
was Rachel, you know, who had them, and she–well, she was
Rachel–and she had been brought up so differently from Jacob that
perhaps Jacob thought he must not press her too severely upon the
point. Perhaps he said to himself, "When I talk with her she does
not seem at all idolatrous. I believe she is a good woman and I must
remember how she was brought up. And as she comes from a
highchurch family I must let her have her little symbols–I do not
know for sure that she has a teraph–I have never absolutely seen
it." But there it was and it was the nucleus of superstition! She and
those around her had become corrupted with the superstitions of
the heathen–and these earrings were the indication of their
superstitious feeling, if not the instruments of divination!
Now, as soon as Jacob speaks, they all give up their idols and
their earrings. I like this. It is a blessed thing when a man of God
takes a stand and speaks, and finds that his family are all ready to
follow. Perhaps it was the fear that was upon them just then–the
fear of the nations round about which made them so obedient. I am
not sure it was a work of Divine Grace, but still, as far as outward
appearances went, there was a willing giving up of all that could
have grieved the Lord. And you will sometimes be pleased,
Christian Friends, when things get wrong and you determine to set
them right, to see how others will yield to your determination. You
ought to take courage from this. Perhaps the very person of whom
you are most afraid will be the most ready to yield and the most
eager to help!
You have been afraid of Rachel, but she has such love for you that
she will do anything for you and give up her teraphs at once. The
sons who were so rough in speaking to you when you spoke in your
own name and spoke about yourself and said, "You have made me
to stink," and so on, will answer very differently when you speak in
God's name! There will be such a power going with God's Word
that they will yield freely and heartily. They did so in Jacob's case.
All of them gave up their idols and they buried them in the earth
beneath the oak. Would God a day would come to old England
when all the crucifixes and priestly vestments–and the whole ruck
of the symbols and emblems of superstition–could be buried under
some grand old Gospel oak, never to be disinterred again! If we do
not see this in the nation we will at least secure it in our own
houses.
Another circumstance happened, namely, that protection was
afforded him–immediate and complete. "They journeyed and the
terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and
they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." In their way were
many cities and, as it were, hemmed them in and the people might
have turned out and cut the little tribe of Israel to pieces. But a
message had gone forth from the Lord of Hosts, saying, "Touch not
My anointed, and do my Prophets no harm." And so they journeyed
in safety. "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his
enemies to be at peace with him," and now that Jacob has
determined to set things right, he walks unharmed!
You do not know how much of personal trouble which you are
now bearing will vanish as soon as you determine to stand up for
God! You do not know how much of family difficulty that now
covers you with dread will vanish when you, yourself, have feared
the Lord and have come forth decidedly and determinedly to do the
right thing. No danger shall befall the man who walks with God,
for with such a Companion malaria breathes health and curses
become blessings! But you know not where you are going and into
what thick woods you plunge when you once forsake the Lord and
walk contrary to His mind. The Lord your God is a jealous God
and if you do not respect His jealousy and walk before Him with
holy fear, you shall be made to feel His wrath! Since He has known
you, only, of all the people of the earth, for that very reason He will
chasten you for your iniquities. This plague of evils shall be
stopped when you purge out your idols, but not till then!
In the next place the vow was performed. They came to Bethel
and I can almost picture the grateful delight of Jacob as he looked
upon those great stones among which he had lain down to sleep, a
lonely man. Perhaps he searched for the stone that had been his
pillow. Probably it still stood erect as part of the pillar which he
had reared in memory of the goodness of God and the vision he had
seen. There were many regrets, many confessions, many
thanksgivings at Bethel! "With my staff I came to this place, but
now I am become two bands. Look, my sons! Look, Rachel! Look,
all of you–this is the spot where, when I fled from Esau with
nothing but my staff and wallet, I laid down and the Lord appeared
to me! And He has kept me all my life long! Come, help me as I
put together the unhewn stones to make an altar. And this great
stone, behold we will pour oil on the top of it and we will together
sing the praises of El-Beth-el–the God of the House of God, the
God who is a House for His people, the God who has a household
of which we form a part–the God under whose wings we seek
refuge."
I have no doubt that Jacob and his house spent a very happy time
at Bethel, where mourning softened thankfulness and joy
sweetened penitence–where every sacred passion in the Patriarch's
soul found vent and poured itself out before the Lord. He thought
of the past, rejoiced in the present and hoped for the future, for now
he had come to be with God and to draw near to Him. But what
else happened? Why, now there came a death and a funeral.
Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. Her name means a bee. And we
have had old nurses, ourselves, have we not, who have been like
busy bees in our household? Dear old Deborah nursed our mother
and nursed us and is still willing to nurse our children! We do not
grow that sort of people, now, they tell me. I am afraid we do not
grow the same kind of masters and mistresses that they used to
have in years gone by, either!
I am not sure about it, but I believe that if there were more
Rebekahs there would be more Deborahs. Somehow I think we are
generally about as well treated as we treat others and we get
measured into our bosoms very much that which we ourselves
measure out. There may be exceptions and there are, but that is the
general rule. Well, dear old Deborah had left Laban's house and
gone with Miss Rebekah when she went into the far country to be
married. She had taken care of her mistress' two boys, Jacob and
Esau, and had set her heart on the same boy that the mother loved
so well and she had sorrowed with Rebekah when he, having
grown up, had been compelled to save his life by fleeing from his
father's household.
I cannot tell when she came to live with Jacob. Perhaps Rebekah
sent her to live with her favorite son because she thought there
were so many in the family that somebody was needed to look after
them all–a person old and discreet to come between Jacob and the
perpetual jars of the household. No doubt Jacob often found it
pleasant to make the good old soul a confidante in his troubles. And
now she dies and they bury her under the oak which they call the
oak of weeping–Allonbachuth. Is it not strange that when you are
trying to get right, there comes a great sorrow? No, it is not strange,
for you are trying to purge out the old leaven–and the Lord is going
to help you. You are trying to set everything right with Him and He
comes and takes away one of the best people in the house who
helped you most of all–one of the staunchest old Christian people
that you ever knew–whom you wanted to live forever!
And He does it not to hinder but to help you in your labor. He
knows best–a touch of the pruning knife was needed by the vine of
Israel that it might bring forth more fruit. The good nurse died
when they seemed to need her most, but it was better for her to die
then, than that she should have departed when Dinah's shame and
Simeon's crime had made the household dark. It was better that she
should live to see them purged from idols and on the road to her
old master Isaac, for then she would feel as if she could say, "Now
let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word, for my
eyes have seen Your salvation."
The moral of the incident is that the Lord may heat the fire all the
more when He sees the refining process going on and we must
receive the further trial as a token of love and not of anger if He
smites us heavily when we are honestly endeavoring to seek His
face.
III. This is what happened while they were doing it. Now we
close with the third head, namely, WHAT FOLLOWED. All this
putting away of idols and going to Bethel–did anything come of it?
Yes. First, there was a new appearance of God. Read the 9 th verse.
"And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of
Padanaram, andblessed Him." This was a new appearance of God.
Some of you will not understand what I say, but I leave it to those
who know the Lord–there are times when God is very near to us. I
wish it were always so, but some of us can mark out epochs in our
spiritual history in which we were wonderfully conscious that God
drew near to us. We felt His Presence and were glad. The Lord
seemed to put us in the cleft of the rock and make His Glory pass
before us.
I have known such times. Would God I knew them more often! It
is worth while to have been purged and cleansed and to have done
anything to be favored with one of those Divine visits in which we
almost cry with Paul, "Whether in the body or out of the body I
cannot tell: God knows." A clear view of God in Christ Jesus and a
vivid sense of Jesus' love is a sweet reward for broken idols and
Bethel reformations!
The next thing that came of it was a confirmation to Jacob of his
title of Prince which conferred a dignity on the whole family. For a
father to be a prince ennobles all the clan. God now puts upon them
another dignity and nobility which they had not known before, for
a holy people are a noble people. You that live in God's Presence
are in the peerage of the skies. "He raises up the poor out of the
dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill that He may set him
with princes, even with the princes of His people." He first makes
them princes and then, to crown it, He makes them princes of
princes, because if all His people are princes, it follows that those
who are princes among His people are princes among princes! The
Lord has a way of conferring high spiritual dignities upon those
who seek to order their households aright and to keep their hearts
clean and chaste before Him. Such honor have all the saints who
fully follow the Lord. God help us to keep close to Jesus and enjoy
daily communion with Him.
And then, next, there was given to Jacob and his family a vast
promise which was, in some degree, an enlargement of a promise
made to Isaac and to Abraham before. "I am God Almighty. Be
fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of
you and kings shall come out of your loins." I do not remember
anything said to Abraham about a company of nations, or about
kings coming out of his loins, but out of the loins of Israel, a
prince, princes may come. God puts upon His promise a certain
freshness of vastness and infinity now that Jacob has drawn near to
Him. Brothers and Sisters, God will give us no new promise, but
He will make the old promises look wondrously new! He will
enlarge our vision so that we shall see what we never saw before!
Have you ever had a painting which hung neglected in some back
room? Did it, one day, strike you that you would have it framed and
brought into a good light? When you saw it properly hung on the
wall, did you not exclaim, "Dear me! I never noticed that picture
before. How wonderfully it has come out"? And many and many a
promise in God's Word will never be noticed by you till it is set in
a new frame of experience. Then, when it is hung up before you,
you will be lost in admiration of it! Sin makes the promises to be
like old pictures coated over with dirt. There must be a cleansing of
ourselves and then it will be like a careful cleaning of the picture,
from which no tint suffers, but all receive a new bloom.
God will make His Bible seem a new book to you. You will find
joy in every page and your soul shall dance for joy as you see the
great things which God has prepared for you, yes, and for your
children, also, if they are walking in the truth, for, "the promise is
unto us and to our children, even to as many as the Lord our God
shall call." With Jacob, by the new appearing of the Lord, the
inheritance was confirmed, for thus runs the Scripture–"The land
which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it and to your
seed after you will I give the land." So, dear Friends, all the blessed
Covenant of Grace with all the promises shall be made distinctly
and clearly yours when you have gone to Bethel and, with holy
decision, drawn near to the Lord your God!
I will not detain you except to say that you may also expect very
familiar communion. Notice the 13 th verse, "Godwent up from
him in the place where He talked with him." Talked with him!
Talked with him! It is such a familiar word. God talking with man.
We say "conversing" when we are speaking in a dignified manner,
but, "talking!" Oh that blessed condescension of God when He
speaks to us in the familiar tones of His great love in Christ Jesus!
There is a way of conversation with God which no tongue can
explain–they only know it who have enjoyed it! Brethren, there are
fellowships with God to be enjoyed of which a large number of
Christians have no idea. He who humbles Himself to behold the
things that are in Heaven and earth dwells with lowly ones! Idols
broken, garments changed, altars built and the soul kept near to
God–and then "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him
and He will show them His Covenant." This is so inestimably
precious a gift that I urge you to seek after it, urging myself most of
all.
The chapter closes with the death of Rachel and so, perhaps,
when we get nearest to God there may come another trial. The old
tradition was that no man could see God's face and live. It was not
true, but it contained a truth, for scarcely can a man enter the secret
place of thunder and have communion with God without special
trial. Yes, it is even so, for "even our God is a consuming fire." He
asks the question, "Who shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?"
And the answer is, "He that has clean hands and a pure heart, that
shuts his ears from hearing of blood" and so on. "He shall dwell on
high."
When we come to dwell with Him who is fire, the fire must burn
and we must feel it. That hallowed flame will consume much that
our unhallowed flesh would like to keep and there will not be a
burning without our enduring sharp smarts and pain. God's furnace
is in Zion and His fire is in Jerusalem. He will purify the sons of
Levi as silver is purified. "Who shall abide the day of His coming?
For He will be as a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." Yet if we
are in a right state, that is exactly what we need! O that our
sinfulness were wholly burned up! Trial is welcomed if sin may but
be conquered! Even Rachel may die if Jesus lives in us but the
more!
Lord, give us Grace and Your Presence–even if we pass through
the furnace a thousand times in consequence thereof. Hear us, for
Jesus' sake! Amen.
Ge 39:2 • A Miniature Portrait of Joseph
ERMON 1610
A Miniature Portrait Of Joseph
"The Lord was with Joseph."
Genesis 39:2
SCRIPTURE frequently sums up a man's life in a single
sentence. Here is the biography of Joseph sketched by
Inspiration–"God was with him," so Stephen testified in his famous
speech recorded in Acts 7:9. Here is the life story of
Abraham–"Abraham believed God." Of Moses, we read, "The man
Moses was very meek." Take a New Testament life, such as that of
John the Baptist, and you have it in a line–"John did no miracles,
but all things that he spoke concerning Jesus were true." The mere
name of John–"that disciple whom Jesus loved"–would serve for
an epitaph of him. It pictures both the man and his history. Holy
Scripture excels in this kind of full-length miniature paintings!
Michelangelo is said to have drawn a portrait with a single stroke
of his crayon and so the Spirit of God sketches a man's life in a
single sentence–"The Lord was with Joseph."
Observe, however, that the portraits of Scripture give us not only
the outer, but the inner life of the man. Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart and so the Scriptural
descriptions of men are not of their visible life, alone, but of their
spiritual life. Here we have Joseph as God saw him, the real
Joseph. Externally it did not always appear that God was with him,
for Joseph did not always seem to be a prosperous man. But when
you come to look into the inmost soul of this servant of God, you
see his true likeness–he lived in communion with the Most High
and God blessed him–"The Lord was with Joseph and he was a
prosperous man."
Dear Friends, how would you like to have your inner biography
sketched? How would your soul appear, if set out in detail before
all the world as to its desires, affections and thoughts? Many lives
have looked well on paper, but beneath their surface the biographer
never dared to dive, or, perhaps, could not have dived had he been
anxious to do so! It is often thought wise, in writing a man's life, to
suppress certain matters. This may be prudent if the design is to
guard a reputation, but it is scarcely truthful. The Spirit of God
does not suppress the faults, even, of those whom we most admire,
but writes them fully, like the Spirit of Truth, as He is. The man
who, above others, was "a man after God's own heart," was yet, in
some points, exceedingly faulty and he committed one foul deed
which will remain, through all time, a blemish upon his character.
There was in David so firm and undeviating an attachment to the
Lord God and so sincere a desire to do right–and so deep a
repentance when he had erred–that the Lord still regarded him as
after His own heart although He smote him heavily for his
transgressions. David was a truly sincere man in spite of the faults
into which he fell and it is the heart of David which is sketched. So
here, the Spirit is not looking so much at Joseph as a favorite child,
or an Egyptian prime minister, as at the innermost and truest Joseph
and, therefore, He thus describes him, "the Lord was with Joseph."
This striking likeness of Joseph strongly reminds us of our Master
and Lord, that greater Joseph, who is Lord over all the world for
the sake of Israel.
Peter, in his sermon to the household of Cornelius, said of our
Lord that He, "went about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." Exactly what had
been said of Joseph! It is wonderful that the same words should
describe both Jesus and Joseph, the perfect Savior and the
imperfect Patriarch! When you and I are perfected in Divine Grace,
we shall wear the image of Christ and that which will describe
Christ will also describe us! Those who live with Jesus will be
transformed by His fellowship till they become like He. To my
mind, it is very beautiful to see the resemblance between the First-
Born and the rest of the family; between the great typical Man, the
Second Adam and all those men who are quickened into His life
and are one with Him.
This having the Lord with us is the inheritance of all the saints,
for what is the Apostolic benediction in the Epistles but a desire
that the Triune God may be with us? To the Church in Rome, Paul
says, "Now the God of peace be with you all." To the Church in
Corinth, he writes, "The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you
all. Amen." To the Thessalonians, he says, "The Lord be with you
all." Did not our glorious Lord say, "Lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world"? How better could I salute you this
morning than in the words of Boaz to the reapers, "The Lord be
with you"? What kinder answer could you give me than, "The Lord
bless you"?
High up upon the mountains which form the back wall of
Mentone I happened, one day, to meet a Quaker in the usual
costume. He was a warm-hearted lover of all who love Jesus. He
saluted me and we found great unity of spirit. On parting, I said,
"Friend, the Lord be with you." And he answered, "And with your
spirit," adding, "It is the first bit of the liturgy that I have ever
used." Truly, the more often we can use it with our hearts, the
better, for none can object to it! Thus do I say to all of you this day,
"The Lord be with you!" And I know that you are responding,
"And with your spirit." May you find that your desire is granted, by
the Holy Spirit's being with my spirit that I may speak words
which shall refresh your hearts!
Now let us think of Joseph and see what we can learn from him.
"The Lord was with Joseph." Let us consider, first, the fact.
Secondly, the evidence of that fact. And thirdly, the result of that
fact.
First, we will run over Joseph's life and note THE FACT–"The
Lord was with Joseph." God was gracious to Joseph as a child. His
father loved him because he was the son of his old age and also
because of the gracious qualities which he saw in him. Before he
was 17 years of age, God had spoken with him in dreams and
visions of the night, of which we read that, "His brothers envied
him; but his father observed the saying." Dear young people, it may
not be that God will appear to you in dreams, but He has other
ways of speaking to His young Samuels. You remember He said,
"Samuel, Samuel," and the beloved child answered, "Speak, Lord,
for Your servant hears." May you answer in the same manner to the
call of God by His Word.
It was the happy privilege of some of us before we had left
boyhood and girlhood to have received gracious communications
from God–He led us to repentance, He led us to faith in Christ and
He revealed His love in our hearts before we had left the
schoolroom and the playground! They begin well who begin early
with Christ! He will be with us to the end if we are with Him at the
beginning! If Joseph had not been a godly boy, he might never have
been a gracious man. Divine Grace made him to differ from his
brothers in youth and he remained their superior all his days. If we
are gracious while we are yet children, we may be sure that the
Lord will be gracious to us even should we live to old age and see
our children's children.
Early piety is likely to be eminent piety. Happy are those who
have Christ with them in the morning, for they shall walk with Him
all day and sweetly rest with Him at eventide. "The Lord was with
Joseph" when Joseph was at home and He did not desert him when
he was sent away from his dear father and his beloved home and
was sold for a slave. Bitter is the lot of a slave in any country and it
was worst of all in those early days. We are told by Stephen that the
Patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt–but the Lord
was with him–even when Joseph was being sold the Lord was with
him. It must have been a very dreadful journey for him across the
desert, urged onward by those rough Ishmaelites, probably
traveling in a gang, as slaves do to this day in the center of Africa.
May God put an end to the abominable system!
This delicate child of an indulgent father, who had been clothed
with a princely garment of many colors, must now wear the garb of
a slave and march in the hot sun across the burning sand. But never
was captive more submissive under cruel treatment. He endured as
seeing Him who is invisible! His heart was sustained by a deep
confidence in the God of his father, Jacob, for, "Jehovah was with
him." I think I see him in the slave market exposed for sale. We
have heard with what trembling anxiety the slave peers into the
faces of those who are about to buy. Will he get a good master?
Will one purchase him who will treat him like a man, or one who
will use him worse than a brute? "The Lord was with Joseph" as he
stood there to be sold and he fell into good hands!
When he was taken away to his master's house and the various
duties of his service were allotted to him, the Lord was with
Joseph. The house of the Egyptian had never been so pure, so
honest, so honored before. Beneath Joseph's charge it was secretly
the temple of his devotions and manifestly the abode of comfort
and confidence. That Hebrew slave had a glory of character about
him which all perceived and, especially his master, for we
read–"His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord
made all that he did to prosper in his hands. And Joseph found
grace in his sight, and he served him–and his master made him
overseer over his house and all that he had, he put into Joseph's
hands. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him
overseer in his house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed
the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord
was upon all that he had in the house and in the field."
Joseph's diligence, integrity and gentleness won over his master,
as well they might. O that all of you who are Christian servants
would imitate Joseph in this and so behave yourselves that all
around you may see that the Lord is with you! Then came a crisis
in his history, the time of testing. We see Joseph tried by a
temptation in which, alas, so many perish! He was attacked in a
point at which youth is peculiarly vulnerable. His comely person
made him the object of unholy solicitations from one upon whose
goodwill his comfort greatly depended. And had it not been that the
Lord was with him, he would have fallen. The mass of mankind
would scarcely have blamed him had he sinned–they would have
cast the crime upon the tempter and excused the frailty of youth. I
say not so! God forbid I should, for in acts of uncleanness, neither
of the transgressors may be excused! But God was with Joseph and
he did not slide when set in slippery places.
Thus Joseph escaped that deep pit into which the abhorred of the
Lord fall. He was rescued from the snare of the strange woman, of
whom Solomon has said, "She has cast down many wounded; yes,
many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to
Hell, going down to the chambers of death." Slavery, itself, was a
small calamity compared with that which would have happened to
young Joseph had he been enslaved by wicked passions. Happily,
the Lord was with him and enabled him to overcome the tempter
with the question, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin
against God?" He fled. That flight was the truest display of
courage! It is the only way of victory in sins of the flesh. The
Apostle says, "Flee youthful lusts which war against the soul."
When Telemachus was in the isle of Calypso, his mentor cried,
"Fly, Telemachus, fly! There remains no hope of a victory but by
flight." Wisely Joseph left his garment and fled, for God was with
him. The scene shifts again and he who had been, first, a favored
child at home and then a slave–and then a tempted one–now
becomes a prisoner. The prisons of Egypt were, doubtless, as
horrible as all such places were in the olden times and here is
Joseph in the noisome dungeon! He evidently felt his imprisonment
very much, for we are told in the Psalms that "the iron entered into
his soul." He felt it a cruel thing to be under such a slander and to
suffer for his innocence. A young man so pure, so chaste, must
have felt it to be sharper than a whip of scorpions to be accused as
he was. Yet as he sat down in the gloom of his cell, the Lord was
with him.
The degradation of a prison had not deprived him of his Divine
Companion. Blessed be the name of the Lord, He does not forsake
His people when they are in disgrace! No, He is more pleasant with
them when they are falsely accused than at any other time and He
cheers them in their low estate. God was with Joseph and very soon
the kindly manners, the gentleness, the activity, the truthfulness, the
industry of Joseph had won over the keeper of the prison so that
Joseph rose, again, to the top and was the overseer of the prison!
Like a cork, which you may push down, but it is sure to come up
again, so was Joseph! He must swim–he could not drown–the Lord
was with Him! The Lord's Presence made him a king and a priest
wherever he went and men tacitly acknowledged his influence. In
the little kingdom of the prison Joseph reigned, for, "God was with
him."
He will rise higher than that, however, when opportunity arises
for a display of prophetic power. Two of those under his charge
appeared to be despondent one morning and, with his usual
gentleness, Joseph asked, "Why do you look so sad today?" He was
always kindly and sympathetic and so they told him their dreams
and he interpreted them as the events actually fell out. But why did
he interpret dreams? It was because God was with him! Joseph tells
them, then and there, that "interpretations belong unto God." It was
not that he had knowledge of an occult art, or was clever at
guessing, but the Spirit of God rested upon him and so he
understood the secrets veiled beneath the dreams. This led to
further steps, for after having been tried from 17 to 30–after having
served 13 years' apprenticeship to sorrow–he came to stand before
Pharaoh and God is with him there, too!
You can see that he is inwardly held up, for the Hebrew youth
stands boldly forth and talks of God in an idolatrous court! Pharaoh
believed in multitudes of gods–he worshipped the crocodile, the
ibis, the bull–and all manner of things, even down to leeks and
onions, so that one said of the Egyptians, "Happy people, whose
gods grow in their own gardens!" But Joseph was not ashamed to
speak of his God as the only living and true God. He said, "What
God is about to do He showed unto Pharaoh." Calmly, and in a
dignified manner, he unravels the dream and explains it all to
Pharaoh, disclaiming, however, all credit for wisdom. He says, "It
is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." God was
with him, indeed!
Joseph was made ruler over all Egypt and God was with him.
Well did the king say, "Can we find such a man as this is in whom
the Spirit of God is?" His policy in storing up corn in the plenteous
years succeeded admirably, for God was evidently working by him
to preserve the human race from extinction by famine. Joseph's
whole system, if looked at as executed in the interest of Pharaoh,
his master, was beyond measure sensible and successful. He was
not the servant of the Egyptians–Pharaoh had promoted him–and
he enriched Pharaoh and, at the same time, saved a nation from
hunger. God was with him in bringing down his father and the
family into Egypt and locating them in Goshen. And God was with
Joseph till he came to die, when he, "took an oath of the children of
Israel, saying God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my
bones from here."
The Lord was with him and kept him faithful to the Covenant and
the covenanted race, even to the close of a long life of 110 years!
He died faithful to the cause of the God of his fathers, for he would
not be numbered with Egypt, with all its learning and all its wealth.
He chose to be accounted an Israelite and to share with the chosen
race whatever their fortunes might be. He, like the rest of the
Patriarchs, died in faith, looking for the promised inheritance and,
for its sake, renouncing the riches and glories of the world, for the
Lord was with him!
II. We shall next review THE EVIDENCE OF THE FACT that
God was with him. What is the evidence that the Lord was with
Joseph? The first evidence of it is this–he was always under the
influence of the Divine Presence and lived in the enjoyment of it. I
shall not need to quote the instances–not all of them, at any rate, for
everywhere, whenever Joseph's heart speaks–he lets you know that
he is conscious that God is with him. Take him, especially, under
temptation. Oh, what a mercy it was for him, that he was a God-
fearing man! "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against
Potiphar?" No. Yet he would have sinned against Potiphar, who had
been a kindly master to him. Does he say, "How shall I do this
great wickedness, and sin against this woman"? for it would have
been a sin against her.
No! Just as David said, "Against You, You only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in Your sight," making the main point and
consideration to be sin against God, so did Joseph, as he fled from
the seducer, argue thus–"How can I do this great wickedness, and
sin against God?" Oh, if you and I always felt that God were near,
looking steadily upon us, we should not dare to sin! The presence
of a superior often checks a man from doing what else he might
have ventured on. And the Presence of God, if it were realized,
would be a perpetual barrier against temptation and would keep us
steadfast in holiness!
When Joseph, at any time afterwards, spoke of God–when God
helped him not only to stand against temptation but to do any
service–you will notice how he always ascribes it to God. He will
not interpret Pharaoh's dream without first telling him, "It is not in
me: God has showed Pharaoh what He is about to do." He was as
conscious of the Presence of God when he stood before the great
monarch as when he refused that sinful woman! It was the same in
his domestic life. Let me read out of his family register. "And unto
Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which
Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On, bare unto him.
And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh: For God,
said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God has
caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."
When his aged father said to him, "Who are these?" Joseph
replied very beautifully, "They are my sons, whom God has given
me in this place." I am afraid that we do not habitually talk in this
fashion, but Joseph did. Without the slightest affectation, he spoke
out of his heart, under a sense of the Divine Presence and working.
How like he is, in this, to our Divine Lord! I cannot help speaking
of it. If there is any good thing more marked about our Lord Jesus
than another it is His sense of the Divine Presence. You see it when
He is a child–"Know you not that I must be about My Father's
business?" You hear it in the words, "I am not alone, because the
Father is with Me." And again, "I know that You hear Me always."
You perceive it forcibly in the last moment of His earthly life, when
the sharpest pang that tortures Him is that which makes Him cry,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" The Presence of
God was everything to Christ as it was to Joseph.
Now, if you and I set the Lord always before us–if our soul dwells
in God–depend upon it, God is with us! There is no mistake about
it. If you are under the influence of that text, "You, God, see me,"
you may be sure that His Presence will go with you and He will
give you rest. No man ever perceived God to be present and,
therefore, walked before Him in holiness, and afterwards
discovered that he had been under a delusion. Grace in the life
proves that the God of Grace is with us! The next evidence is this–
God was certainly with Joseph because he was pure in heart.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." No other
can do so. God will not manifest Himself to those whose hearts are
unclean. He that has clean hands and a pure heart, he shall dwell on
high. Our Lord Jesus said, "If a man loves Me, he will keep My
words: and My Father will love Him, and we will come unto Him,
and make our abode with Him."
When the heart is shocked at sin and enamored of holiness, then it
can enter into communion with God, but not till then. "Can two
walk together unless they are agreed?" When I hear some
professors admit that they have little communion with God, can I
wonder at it? How can God have fellowship with us unless we
walk obediently in His ways? What fellowship has light with
darkness, or what concord has Christ with Belial? The intense
purity of Joseph was proof that the thrice holy God was always
with him! He will keep the feet of His saints. When they are
tempted, He will deliver them from evil, for His Presence sheds an
atmosphere of holiness around the heart in which He dwells.
The next evidence in Joseph's case was the diligence with which
he exercised himself wherever he was. God was with Joseph and,
therefore, the man of God hardly cared as to the outward
circumstances of his position, but began at once to work that which
is good. He was in the pit–yes, but the Lord was with him and the
pit was not horrible to him. He pleaded with his brothers and
although they would not hear, he did his duty in warning them of
their crime. He was carried captive of the Ishmaelites, but in the
caravan he was safe, for God was with him. When he came to be a
slave in Potiphar's house, the Lord was with him and he was a
prosperous man! The change of scene was not a change of his
dearest Company! He did not strike an attitude and make a display
of his grand intentions, but he went to work where he was and
performed ordinary duties with great heartiness–for the Lord was
with him!
Many would have said, "I have been unrighteously sold for a
slave. I ought not to be here and I am not bound to perform any
duties for Potiphar. Rightfully I am a free man, as free as Potiphar,
and I shall not work for him for nothing." No, the Lord was with
him and, therefore, Joseph applied himself to that which lay next to
hand and went to work with a will. No doubt he performed menial
service in the house, at first, and then, by degrees, he rose to be the
manager of the establishment. The truly godly man is ready for
anything–he does not sigh for place, but accepts the state in which
he is found–and does good in it, for the Lord's sake. The Lord was
with Joseph, none the less, when he was cast into the prison. Joseph
knew God was with him in prison and, therefore, he did not sit
down sullenly in his sorrow, but he bestirred himself to make the
best of his afflicted condition.
Since the Lord was with him there, he was comforted. It would be
infinitely better to be in prison with God than on the throne of