Journal: July 1, 2010

Today was a very difficult day because we were locked down all day. WE had hoped to be out by 1 PM, but it did not happen. We had no showers either. I am grateful for the swamp cooling and the small fan I have. The Lord is good.

Because the day brought so much frustration and discouragement, I felt motivated to write another devotional on suffering for my book. I took as my text Genesis 37:24, 28 and 39:20 “and they took him and threw him into the pit…and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites…and put him into the jail.” These phrases describe suffering of Joseph, cruelly treated by his wicked brothers and Potiphar’s wife. One moment he was walking in freedom and the next he was stripped of all he owned and robbed of his father, his freedom, and his future. He had no more control of his own life but was at the mercy of others. He was bound in chains (Ps. 105:18). He could cry out or fret and it would do no good. He was brought to the point where he had to trust God—for everything. This is actually a blessed place to be to be but it is very painful (to the flesh) to get there. The Scripture says he was refined in his chains. I am grateful to the Lord that He, from time to time, gives me tastes of this kind of suffering, for my much needed spiritual growth.