Expansion under pressure

Genesis 37:28 AMPC

Then as the Midianite merchants were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the well. And they sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph [captive] into Egypt.Genesis 39:1 AMPC

And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

Genesis 39:20 AMPC

And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the state prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison.

The story of Joseph is one of a succession of demotions.

"Daddy's favourite" envied by his siblings, sold as a slave in a foreign land. Landed on his feet as Potiphar's slave, in charge of a large household. Falsely accused of rape by his wife, he ends up in the state prison. Then he finds himself responsible for an even larger group of prisoners.

All the while he was being confined and restricted personally, he was being stretched in responsibility. Each time it got worse for him, God gave him more people to oversee.

He was being prepared to take over the running of Egypt!

First he had his own dreams at home (promises of God to hold onto). Then he interprets prisoners dreams (before his own were fulfilled). Finally, he gets the big job of explaining Pharaoh's dreams. That is the key to fulfilling his own dreams.

At any moment Joseph could have given into despair. Indeed, as Psalm 105:18 puts it, "his soul entered into the iron"!

It wasn't easy all those years in captivity, but he didn't lose faith in God's Word. His soul was chained, yes, but God was with him, overseeing events that seemed to get worse and worse.

It can be the same for us as we've been restricted. God is allowing the pressure to expand our trust in Him.

It may have been a long time, confined by hard circumstances, but hold fast to the promises that have been given you as a believer in Jesus.

Your time WILL come!

God is with you, God IS faithful.