From Prison To Premiership.

FROM PRISON TO PREMIERSHIP.

Psalm 105:16-22.

PSALM 105:16. It is the LORD our God who “called for a famine upon the land: He brake the whole staff of bread.” Bread, or any staple, is aptly called ‘the staff of life’ – for without his staff man must surely fall. But such things are in the hands of God.

PSALM 105:17. But prior to the summoning of the famine, “He sent a man before them, even Joseph who was sold for a servant,” or rather, “a slave.” Yes, even behind that injustice, the LORD was working out His own hidden purposes to keep Israel alive.

PSALM 105:18. “Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron.” Joseph was first thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers, who then sold him as a slave to the Midianites. They in turn sold Joseph to an Egyptian who before long elevated him to the head of the household. Then the master’s wife told lies about Joseph, and he was cast into a dungeon.

PSALM 105:19. “Until the time that His word came: the word of the LORD tried him.” Our times are in His hand (cf. Psalm 31:15), but ‘the time appointed was long’ (cf. Daniel 10:1). Joseph had to endure much, and persevere long; but there was for him, as for Jesus – as also for us - a ‘fulness of time’ (cf. Galatians 4:4).

PSALM 105:20-22. None other than the king himself sent and released Joseph. This began the exaltation of Joseph, from the prison to the palace. Then from the palace to the premiership. And he who had been a slave in bonds was now able to bind the wrong-doers at his pleasure, and to teach the senators God’s wisdom. What a turnaround!

PSALM 105:45b. “Praise ye the LORD.”