Vayeshev “And he dwelt”
Genesis 37:1–40:23
Amos 2:6–3:8
Luke 1-6

The Way to the Palace

"Name it, claim it and frame it!" "No bad thing happens to God's people!" "If you are not being blessed it is because you are living in sin or just do not have enough faith!" These are all statements many of us have heard through the past years as the gospel turned from being about Him to being about us. Many were taught that God was like a heavenly vending machine. If you just put the right coin of confession in and pressed the right buttons, life was going to be like Heaven on earth with no problems, trials or troubles.
Before I go on let me say that I do believe in blessings. I am also a firm believer that we bring many bad things on our own lives because of own actions and words which we speak. But does the extreme of this confession teaching line up with scripture?

The life of Joseph provides our answers. His life was like a spiritual roller coaster. It just seemed that nothing he did was going to be right in the eyes of anyone around him except for his father. He had not chosen to be born the youngest, or the cutest of the bunch. He had not chosen to be the brother his father loved more than the others. He had not asked for the coat of many colors. He had not even asked to have the dreams of his family bowing down to him. (Maybe he should have kept those to himself!) No, Joseph was simply living a life of favor, not because of his own actions, but because of a Divine hand that was upon his life.

It would seem that with all Joseph had going for him, life would have been a continual bed of roses from beginning to end. At least that is how much of modern day theology would have us to believe. Instead Joseph found himself in the prison much more than the palace through his early adult years. We must wonder how many nights he lay awake at night looking up to the ceiling of his prison cell, thinking about the dreams he once had and how distant they now felt. Little did he understand that the prison cell was not working against the dreams coming to pass, but in fact was a part of the dreams being fulfilled. Without the prison, the man would not have been ready for the dreams of the palace. There would be no shortcuts to the molding of this man. He needed the prison of hard times to prepare him for the job the palace would bring.

The life of Joseph may speak louder than any of the accounts of Torah to our lives today. Most every person reading this commentary believes or at least is starting to believe that you have been placed upon this earth for more than just to live out a day-to-day life. You know that The Father has placed you here for great things. Many have even shared dreams and visions you have had regarding your life and the calling you believe has been placed upon you. You also look around and see that the life you are currently walking out seems to be light years away from the life you are called to. It is as far as the prison is from the palace.

So what is the reason HaShem took Joseph to the prison in the first place? To understand that is to understand why you and I go there also.

The prison is a place of character building. It is a place where we are allowed to spend time by ourselves and consider our own lives. In the prison we contemplate the mistakes we have made that have brought us there in the first place. I am sure Joseph spent many hours asking himself about the pride in his own heart that made him share the dreams instead of pondering them and praying about them. The prison is a place where we not only spend time in self examination, but we eventually look up and ask HaShem to do a real search of our lives. It is a place that we are thankful for in the end instead of shying away from.

Just as in the life of Joseph The Father is doing a work in many of our lives today. We need to embrace the attitude we see in Joseph and understand that He is in control of each of our days. He has the right to leave us in the prison for as long as we need to stay for our own good. He has the right to bring trials that will in the end conform us each day into His image.

Just as in the life of Joseph we must learn to appreciate the times that seem like prison in our lives. All the while though we must understand the purpose for the prison and know that it is not an obstacle to the palace, but rather a necessary part of the journey to it.