Greg Laurie - Monday, December 31, 2018

Because He's There

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.

—Genesis 39:1

Seventeen-year-old Joseph’s world changed overnight. He was sent to Egypt, a pagan place filled with religious superstition.

The Egyptians worshipped as many as two thousand gods and goddesses. And of course, they worshipped the pharaoh himself.

It was here in this teeming metropolis of wickedness and idolatry that Joseph arrived as a slave. Up to that point, he had lived a sheltered life. Joseph basically was a country boy coming to the big city.

Joseph was sold to Potiphar, whom the Bible identifies as “captain of the guard” (Genesis 39:1 NKJV). This meant Potiphar was a high-ranking Egyptian official, the head of the military police. He also was head of the royal bodyguard, a Secret Service of sorts, as well as chief of the executioners. Potiphar was a man to be feared.

Yet Joseph wasn’t intimidated at all by Potiphar. Why? Verse 3 of Genesis 39 gives us the answer: “the Lord was with him” (NKJV). Joseph was a classic example of Psalm 1:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; . . . He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water” (verses 1, 3 NKJV).
Elijah, too, could walk courageously into the court of Ahab and Jezebel and speak the words God had given him:

“As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1 NKJV, emphasis added).

Elijah recognized that wherever he went, he was standing before God.
Joseph understood this as well.

Do you know the Lord is with you, too? If you’re a Christian, He is with you. Wherever you go, God is there.