This story has lessons for us all in these areas:

• Promotion on the job
• Sharing your faith
• Dealing with difficult situations

The life of Joseph is great example to study and imitate his responses to life’s difficult questions.
We will look at 3 phases of Joseph’s life surrounding “the pit”

Joseph to the pit
Joseph experienced, as we all do, difficult times when he felt as thought he was down in a pit. This happened to him literally, when his brothers decided to kill him, and threw him in a pit, before changing their minds and selling him as a slave:

• Genesis 37:28… “…his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern [pit] and sold him for twenty shekels of silver…”

He also experience the “pit” of being thrown into prison for allegedly attempting to rape his owner’s wife, when in fact he’d resisted her advances on him.

• Genesis 39:20… “Joseph arrested and put in prison”

The Pit experience can be…

• Caused by someone else’s problem
• Caused by your own problem
• Caused by uncontrollable circumstances
• No obvious solution

Joseph in the pit
In all his circunstances Joseph exemplified

• Godly Character in all situations
• This led to his being given responsibility
• Genesis 39:2-4 “When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and entrusted to his care everything he owned.”
• Genesis 39:22 “The jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners.”

In his pit experiences Joseph’s conduct enabled him to find

• Development
• Purpose
• Promotion
  • “No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt [promote] a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another.” - Psalms 75:6, 7
  • “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” I Samuel 2:30
• Sharing, with fellow prisoners

Joseph out of the pit

Eventually (Genesis 41v14) Joseph was released from prison, brought before the ruler of Egypt, and given the opportunity to use his gifts & abilities. He interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, advised him on what to do, and was made chief governor of the land.
At the end of the story, when talking to his brothers, we see him look back on his experiences, even the worst ones, and conclude:

• Genesis 50:19-20 Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saying of many lives.”

Joseph’s story shows us these lessons:

• God is the Reward of Faithfulness
• Don’t lose sight of God
• Grow in the pit experience by being faithful to God
• The Challenge for future pit experiences
• It seems that no one can help you…you’re trapped
  • Life contains pit experiences for us all