Several years ago, our family shared the anguished journey of a loving father falsely accused of lethal child abuse. It was tragedy enough to lose an infant son, but the ensuing charges—along with the Dad's removal from the home he shared with his wife and three-year-old daughter—brought a precious family to a "jail" of its own. It was not, to put it mildly, a time to celebrate that the faithful prosper.
And yet, to the very authorities who eyed him with harsh suspicion, he said, "Please come to dinner at our house any time. You are most welcome." At church, he sat next to the District Attorney whose office was prosecuting him. Throughout his unthinkable ordeal, this man showed nothing but grace, kindness, and respect. In the end, he was acquitted in a matter of minutes. Though the attending doctor had ignored medical evidence that would have prevented the accusation in the first place, the jury found it to be an open-and-shut case. Our friend moved forward without malice to rebuild his life. Like Joseph, he somehow took the long view, and lived.
On first reading, Genesis 39 might seem like another version of the "prosperity gospel" you can find on your cable channels. "Just follow the Lord, and you'll be healthy, wealthy, and relationally successful," they say. But Joseph gets sold into slavery twice over and, in today's reading, deals with a false accusation of his own. And still we read, "the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper." To be honest, neither our friend's plight nor Joseph's looks much like "prosperity" to me. And yet what hope I take from both stories—hope that God's presence in our lives is less about making things go well (they don't always!) and more about giving us the grace to face any circumstance and "prosper."
- How might these stories invite you to redefine "prosperity"?
- What does your life look like when you pay attention to God's presence in the midst of it?
- What other details did you notice in today's reading?
Prayer: Thank you, dear Lord, that you are "with us" in every peak and valley, in every moment of every day. Show us the "prosperity" that comes from living in loving dependence on you. Amen.
Breath Prayer: The Lord was // with him.
