Difficult Days of a Past Homeschooler

He was raised in a loving homeschooling household, the apple of his father’s eye. God’s grace was upon him as he excelled in his studies and in his spare time he acquired additional skills and perspectives that would benefit him greatly in a future that seemed so bright. Sadly, his journey took an unexpected and cruel turn.

Because Joseph lacked discretion, he his brothers about his dream of them falling down before him. Sadly, his father, Jacob, aided and abetted this seed of jealousy with the coat of many colors. In an act of rage and revenge, they sold him into Egyptian slavery in order to be done with him once and for all.

As a salve, Joseph served well in Potiphar’s house whose wealth and reputation increased respectively. For Joseph, a young man in his college years, there was no vacation time. No hope of a holiday weekend to go back and visit his father. No 401K. No apparent hope of freedom. His was to be a lifetime of being at his master’s beck and call 24/7. Still, God had blessed his efforts in this lowly role. After being promoted to Potiphar’s house, he thought his trajectory was finally on the upswing. As his faith increased, he wondered what wonderful thing God might do next in his life; he didn’t have to wait long. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of rape. In vengeance, she wanted Joseph executed but God had other plans, so Joseph was delivered to the dungeon.

The prison conditions were nothing like they are today. It was filthy with very little to eat, but even in these wretched conditions, God gave this young man favor, and he continued his rise to the top until he oversaw the entire prison. Despite all the difficult circumstances he had gone through, he stayed true to the God of his fathers. Like Daniel in Babylon, he had no doubt that God was in absolute, sovereign, control, superintending his affairs with purpose, plan and design, even though he could not begin to understand the journey. Whatever state he was in he somehow found contentment and always climbed upward.

You know the rest of the story. He interpreted the butler and baker’s dream, but it was still two more long years before he was taken to Pharoah to decode the meaning of the cows and the corn. Literally overnight, he went from being a condemned prisoner with no earthly hope to second in charge over the largest empire in the known world at that time. Only the God of his fathers could do such a thing.

This historic saga gives us so many life lessons and prayer prompts for our homeschooling children:

• As a parent, Jacob showed undue favoritism to the son of his most beloved wife, Rachel. Do we as parents unintentionally show more attention to those through which we get social mileage, are more charismatic, or most like us? Let us pray that we will love all of our children, not for what they do, but simply for who they are. This is even more true when they do not act as they should.
  • In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. –1 Timothy 5:21

1. • Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. –Gen. 37:3
2. Joseph seemed to be skilled in mathematics, communication, and writing. He was also gifted in administration. Potiphar’s home flourished under Joseph’s care. The prison prospered under his leadership as well. Joseph was able to store seven years of grain for an entire empire. We need to pray that our children will apply themselves to their book learning and in acquiring other skills that would be useful in their future.
   • Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. –Proverbs 22:29
   • One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”–1 Samuel 16:18
3. It is clear from scripture that Joseph’s brothers fell into bitterness toward their little brother who received more than his share of attention. We need to listen to how our children speak to each other. Are they encouraging or are they always picking? Do any of our children sound bitter in soul? We need to constantly pray that God will grace our homes with peace and brotherly and sisterly affections.
   • See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; –Hebrews 12:15
   • though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. –Proverbs 26:26
4. While salvation is from the Lord, it seems Jacob did a good job discipling Joseph in the things of the Lord. How would our children do if they were taken from us around seventeen or eighteen years old, not seeing us for almost the rest of their life? Do we think they would hold true to the teachings given them? This would be a good discussion point with our young adult children still living in our home. Let us pray that God will grace us with discipling each of our children in the way they should go.
   • He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, –Psalms 78:5
   • Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. –Proverbs 22:6
5. Only Christ alone could keep a seventeen-year-old pure in a pagan culture with all the temptations surrounding him. Since salvation is from the Lord, let us pray that God will save our children early and to the uttermost, keeping them from temptation.
   • And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. –1 Samuel 3:20 (even at a young age)
   • Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. –Hebrews 7:25
6. You may ask your children how they think Joseph stayed true to God when every time he tried to do what was right before God, he suffered injustice. When trying to be a faithful slave, he was falsely accused and condemned to prison. Even when he was put in charge of the prison, he remained a prisoner. The answer is he believed that God, not people, was sovereign and was therefore in control of every detail of his life. Let us pray that our children will similarly come to believe in the authority of God over all circumstances, situation, people, and the devil himself.
   • all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” –Daniel 4:35
   • In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, –Eph. 1:11
7. Even though Joseph was the apple of his father’s eye, he apparently learned a good work ethic in his early years, willing to do whatever was asked of him. In some seasons of life our children must learn they must do the next thing that is in front of them, whether they like it, whether it is hard, whether it pays very much or nothing at all. Let us pray that our children will learn to be faithful, hard workers who actually enjoy labor as God made man to work in the Garden of Eden.
   • Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.–Col. 3:22
   • “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. –Ex. 34:21
8. While Joseph worked hard, God gave him favor in both Potiphar’s eyes and the warden’s eyes. Some things in life are simply a matter of timing and grace. We should always pray that our children will experience God’s grace and grow in favor with God and man.
   • And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. –Luke 2:52
   • The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season –Psalms 145:15
9. Whatever season God has our children in, pray that they will experience contentment, not necessarily looking for a change in their circumstances but trusting that God knows what He is doing.
   • For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. –2 Cor. 12:10
   • Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. –Phil 4:11
10. Joseph had to fight through bitterness, discouragement, and disappointment, but because he held onto the truth of God’s word and character, he ended up being exalted in a way that he could never have imagined. Once he gained prominence, he did not use his power for vengeance for he knew it was God and not his brothers that put him in his position. Pray that our children will walk in humility all their lives, knowing that it is God who directs their paths and exalts according to His will.
    • I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. –Jer. 10:23
    • The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. –Psalms 147:6