Life Group Study
Week of February 12 - 18
The Story of Joseph - Life in the Prison
Open with Prayer
1. What was the best place you have ever been to for a vacation?
2. Anyone ever been to Egypt?
This week we looked at Joseph and the issues he had with his Egyptian boss
Potiphar (well master really). Potiphar’s wife had fallen in lust with Joseph and
tried to put “the moves” on the handsome and well-built Joseph. When
Joseph turned her down and escaped her advances, leaving only his coat
behind, Potiphar’s wife lied about him and had Potiphar throw Joseph into
prison.
3. Have you ever had a crumby boss? What made them a difficult person
to deal with?
At this point in the story Joseph seems to have developed a habit of losing his
coat. He lost the colorful one his dad gave him when his brothers beat him up
and sold him into slavery. Once again he looses his coat when he runs away
from sinning with Potiphar’s wife.
4. Have you ever lost something really valuable? Did you get it back?
Joseph is now in prison in the foreign land . . . in which he was sold into
slavery by his own brothers . . . after being wrongly accused by his master . . .
who he had served diligently and caused to prosper . . . all of which was set
into motion by the dreams that God had given him as a young man! If anyone
had the right to be angry with their circumstances and frustrated with God it is
Joseph.
5. Can you relate to any part of Joseph’s story to this point?
1. Hurt by family?
2. Alone?
3. In a foreign place or circumstance?
4. Wrongly accused or portrayed?
5. The good you do is met with rejection, pain, and futility?
6. Feeling abandoned by God?
Genesis 39 19 - 23
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave
treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison,
the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison,
the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the
eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the
prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no
attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and
gave him success in whatever he did.
Genesis 39 tells us that in spite of Joseph’s circumstances that God was with
him and that the Lord was showing him kindness and granting him favor. As
readers of the whole account we are able to see how God is using the
circumstances of Joseph’s life to prepare him to be the saving force not only
for his whole family, but for the entire country of Egypt and beyond.
Joseph had a choice to make in the middle of the difficulties he was facing. he
could either allow the hardships of his life to harden his heart or he could allow
the circumstances he faced to prepare him for what God had for him.
6. In some real ways we all face that same dilemma of how are we going
to react to the difficulties of our lives. What are some ways you have
learned to keep from being hardened?
Genessis 41:41 - 43 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of
Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s
finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his
neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people
shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land
of Egypt.
7. Genesis 41 shows how God was able to restore to Joseph what had
been lost. God, through Pharaoh, gave Joseph robes (plural) of fine
linen to replace the coats that he had lost. Has this ever happened to
you? Have you ever experienced God restoring something to you that
you thought was lost for good?
8. What would you like to see God restore?
The story of Joseph is both remarkable and challenging. Joseph’s life was not
just about him. He was the vessel that God used to bring his salvation to his
people as well as the Egyptians. Joseph’s life served a greater purpose that
the circumstances of his life could have ever indicated. Joseph’s life not only
served to save his family and a nation, but it was an amazing prophetic
precursor of God’s plan of ultimate salvation - Jesus Christ.
9. Does God’s use of Joseph (his servant) in order to save the foreign
nation of Egypt (a pagan and hostile nation that neither accepted God
nor reflected his truth) tell us anything about our own current situation
in America?
10. What are practical things that we can do to help remind ourselves and
others of the fact that our lives are not just about us?
If Joseph had ended his story in the pit that his brothers threw him into or in
the prison that false accusations put him in he would have missed the great
story that God was writing through his life. We, like Joseph, need to remain
faithful regardless of our circumstances. Whether we find ourselves in pits and
prisons or we are finding success God uses our faithfulness for our ultimate
good and his glory.
Finish with prayer.