Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, living away from all that he had ever known, Joseph was presented with the opportunity to have a good time with his master, Potiphar's wife (Gen 39.7). In our day and time, there are a lot of folks who would go along with this idea. Look what I've been through, they might say, and then the spirit of compromise begins to spark their creativity in such a way that they can do what they want and get away with it, and still be thought well of. Joseph, however, refused to do this. First of all, he knew that a great deal of trust had been placed in him by Potiphar so that the man did not know anything about his own affairs beyond the food that was set before him (Gen 39. 6). Joseph could have taken over the household, formed an alliance with Potiphar's wife, just like on Survivor, and the next thing you know Joseph would have been able to treat others the way that he had been treated. That was not his way of course. Not only did Joseph acknowledge that Potiphar trusted him, he also knew that God was watching over him, to which he stated, "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? (Gen 39.9). Many times we let the trials of life obscure the blessings of God in our lives and due to that we may take liberties and compromise God's law. Joseph could have done that, and, if he was more like most folks are today, he would have found endless excuses to justify his actions. Some of the things that we allow to get to us, Joseph refused to give in to.
First there was betrayal. In Joseph's case this was by his brothers. They were sick of his endless stories and dreams that placed him at the top. They were jealous of his relationship with their father and because of this they decided to kill him but relented and settled for selling him into slavery. (Gen 37). People many times become bitter when they "feel" that others have let them down. Sometimes this is the case. It is difficult to find many that we can truly rely on in times of trouble. Even the apostle Paul had this problem (Phil 2.20). Unfortunately when humans let us down, it is God that gets blamed and ignored. Some find that they have to get mad at someone and God is the one who "should have helped but didn't". Some will go to their grave having an issue with God that has nothing to do with the Lord and his blessings.
Secondly there was betrayal by his employer. After doing the right thing and refusing to have an affair with his wife, Potiphar had Joseph cast into prison anyway. It doesn't matter that Potiphar suspected that his wife was lying or not, the fact is, doing the right thing got Joseph in trouble. Joseph however continued to serve God and held that resolve. Loyalty is something that is a rare thing. Employers, friends, family and others may come up quite short at one time or another in this area and when they do, who gets the blame? God. Christ warned his disciples that he had not come to fill their lives with peace while they were in the earth. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matt 10.34-36). Even those who should know and love us the most may turn against us for doing that which is right. That is what happened to Joseph, but he managed not to blame God, or hold God responsible for the actions of humans.
A third apparent betrayal was in the time period after Joseph had interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's butler and baker. The dreams had been fulfilled just as Joseph stated that they would be (Gen 40) and proper credit had been given to God (Gen 40.8) yet in spite of this "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him." (Gen 40.23) and Joseph had even asked politely not to be forgotten (Gen 40.14-15). Now where was God in all of that? Well we know that eventually Joseph saved the nation of Egypt and then saved his family as a result of that as well. The point is that Joseph could have just been like a lot of folks, blamed God for all of the bad things that had happened to him, especially after doing what was right, and just given up. Joseph resolved not to do this and as a result untold millions were saved through God blessing them through the things that Joseph accomplished. Righteousness does not depend on what we do. Righteous does not depend on what others think of what we do. Righteous depends on what God thinks of what we do and if we are resolved to be faithful to Him no matter what.
TLC