Have you ever gotten in trouble because you tried to do the right thing? Joseph certainly did. Far from remaining the bratty little tattletale that his brothers had sold into slavery, he seems to have been chastened by his experience, becoming a responsible, respected manager (39:4). Even though he was a slave, he tried to do right by his master.

And that determination remained firm, even when his master’s wife tried to seduce him (39:7). Joseph remained faithful to God and to his master, in spite of the unjust situation in which he was living (39:8-10).

But how did his morality help him? Even though he refused to sleep with his master’s wife, she just lied and said that he had tried to rape her (39:14). Her husband naturally took her side, and had Joseph thrown into prison (39:20).

Now, after all of this, it would have been easy for Joseph to become bitter. It would have been easy for him to dwell on his misfortunes and assume that God didn’t care about him, or even that God isn’t real – lots of people come to that conclusion, you know. Maybe that’s how you feel about God today.

But in reality, God never abandoned Joseph. God blessed his master’s house because of his faithfulness (39:5). And even in prison, God was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did (39:23). No, Joseph didn’t have the freedom he craved, and he was still far from home, but God never gave up on him.

And God never gives up on us either, no matter where we are, and no matter what may be happening to us. As Joseph understood, God is worthy of our trust, even when we don’t understand what He’s doing in our lives. Even in our confusion and pain, we can trust God.

Genesis 39:1-23 (NASB)

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.
2 And the LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
3 Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.
5 And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the LORD’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.
6 So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
7 And it came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”
8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.
9 “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?”
10 And it came about as she spoke to Joseph day after day, that he did not listen to her to lie beside her, or be with her.
11 Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside.
12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.
13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled outside,
14 she called to the men of her household, and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make sport of us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I screamed.
15 “And it came about when he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled, and went outside.”
16 So she left his garment beside her until his master came home.
17 Then she spoke to him with these words, “The Hebrew slave, whom you brought to us, came in to me to make sport of me;
18 and it happened as I raised my voice and screamed, that he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
19 Now it came about when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” that his anger burned.
20 So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail.
21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.
22 And the chief jailer committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.
23 The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.