Compass Life Group Resources Exposition and Application Study Fresh Prince – Week 3 - ‘Rock Bottom’

Black = textual exposition and insight Blue = Life application questions Red = Illustrations and thoughts to help understanding * All Bible quotations will be in New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.

Would you describe your life as a rollercoaster of major ups and downs or more like a pleasant walk with few interruptions? Share with the group two of three of your major highs and lows in life and how you felt was with you or far away - blessing you or ignoring you in each stage.

Joseph’s life had some extreme ups and downs. From favored son to a literal pit and then a caravan to a foreign land as a slave where he did not even speak the language. Then to favored slave with a of responsibility and favor to falsely accused and imprisoned. That is where we pick up the story this week.

Genesis 39:20-23 - “’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined” (NIV)

“where the king’s prisoners were confined” … because that’s a really important detail.

As was said in the message, “Regardless of why they ended up there, this part of the prison was potentially a little nicer than the rest… not a place you want to take the kids on vacation, but nicer than the other parts of the prison.”

So, Joseph is in this part of the prison when we start to see glimpses of God’s favor again. As was mentioned in last week’s notes, there is evidence here that Potiphar did not believe his wife's story. Genesis 39:19-20 tells us Potiphar’s anger burned when his wife told her the false story, but it does not say his anger burned against Joseph. Perhaps his anger was for his wife, though he had to acquiesce to her demands. After all, he is the captain of the bodyguard, the chief executioner. If he really believed one of his slaves tried to rape his wife, I doubt Joseph would have lived five minutes. Instead, he puts him in prison. Potiphar was probably most angry that his wife had caused him to lose his best servant, his guarantee on prosperity. In fact in Genesis 40:3-4, we see that the “captain of the body guard” who puts Joseph in charge of some new prisoners is none other than Potiphar himself! Potiphar was treating Joseph well in jail. It was Potiphar who decided to put Joseph into “the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

God’s favor continues . . .

Genesis 38:20b-23 - “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 1

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.” (NIV)

Once again, Joseph is given great responsibility, and things go so well that the warden does not concern himself with anything Joseph does. The warden sees that anything Joseph does brings success. He is not a free man, but he is in the best position a prisoner in can be. Even in prison, Joseph prospers because God is with him.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote a book called The Gulag Archipelago. This old Russian writer had spent eight years in the infamous Soviet Gulag camp system. But he later wrote these words about his dark and unfair experience there. "In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit for power I was a murderer, and an oppressor. In my most evil moment I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. And it was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, not between classes, not between political parties either - but right through every human heart - and through all human hearts ... So, bless you, prison, for having been in my life."

It sounds a bit like , when he wrote in Psalm 119:71, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.” (NLT)

Genesis 40:1-4 - “The cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them”

We do not know how long Joseph was in prison, but it certainly seems to have been several years. The seventeen year old teenager sold into slavery aged into his twenties in the house of Potiphar. Genesis 41:16 tells us he was thirty years old when he appeared before Pharaoh, so the time at Potiphar’s house as a slave combined with the time in prison is thirteen years.

As we heard in the message, “While these roles don’t mean much to us anymore, the chief baker and cupbearer’s positions were really important! They were responsible for safeguarding the ways that a potential assassin could strike the king. They had to be extremely trustworthy individuals of unquestioned character so that no one could poison or injure the king!”

This was especially true of the cupbearer. He was considered a top advisor to a king. He was in his presence very often (certainly at each meal). He had to taste of the king’s food and drink before the king to make sure there was no poison. Later in the Old Testament we will learn of Nehemiah, who was also a cupbearer to a king and a very trusted adviser. 2

After some time in prison, Joseph notices that the cupbearer and chief baker are despondent. When he inquires, he find out they have both had significant dreams, but they cannot figure out what the dreams mean. Joseph, by God’s gifting, has the ability to interpret dreams (remember his own dreams at the age of seventeen).

With God’s help, Joseph interprets both of their dreams. To the cupbearer he says that, “Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer” (Genesis 40:13, NIV). The cupbearer is thrilled. This makes the baker eager to tell his dream to Joseph.

Unfortunately, Joseph tells him that his dream means that, “Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh” (Genesis 40:19, NIV).

Joseph’s ability to interpret the dreams shows us again that God is with him and blessing him even in the midst of being unjustly imprisoned.

Can you think of a time you were in the middle of some difficult circumstances but could clearly tell that God was with you and blessing you?

The only thing that Joseph asks in return from the cupbearer is, “when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison” (Genesis 40:14, NIV).

Joseph is hoping that Pharaoh will appreciate his dream interpreting ability and bring him out of prison and into his own service. Since the cupbearer is one of Pharaoh’s top advisers, you would think he would be eager to share with Pharaoh (and take credit for) finding Joseph and bringing him into his service. But that is not what happens. Instead, when the cupbearer is restored, he forgets Joseph altogether for two years! (Genesis 41:1)

Genesis 40:23 - “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him”

Those two years must have been miserable. He saw this as his best chance to gain some level of freedom and get out of prison and at least be of service on the outside again.

As was said in the message, “Maybe Joseph’s story teaches us that rock bottom isn’t something we need to be lifted out of but instead is something during which we need change our hearts. Sometimes we have the wrong expectations of how God actually works… we think that God’s goal must be to remove us from “prison”… but maybe God’s desire is to work in and through us while we’re there.”

3

In addition, God may desire to use us while at a rock bottom as he did Joseph. In fact, maybe our faithfulness to God during the prolonged tough times of life determines how much God can use us in better times! Perhaps this is why James writes …

James 1:2-4 - “ Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

In the message we were reminded of biblical characters who had some tough rock bottoms that were self inflicted in some cases and inflicted unjustly in others.

- who lost everything—his wealth, his business, his children, and almost his marriage (and it all happened BECAUSE he was so faithful to God!

- King David who hit rock bottom multiple times: When (who he faithfully served) tried to kill him for several years out of jealousy. After an affair with , dealing with his own guilt and shame. When his son Absalom tried to kill him and take him throne.

- Peter who denied 3 times and went through a dark time in his faith

These and many others got out of their rock bottoms, but it was how they handled their tough circumstances that helped determine how God would use them later on. Job gets a whole book of the Bible devoted to him for the way he faithfully persevered in his unjust pain and tragedy. David was the greatest king of Israel and the only person in the Bible that God describes as “a man after my own heart.” Peter goes on to be a trail blazing apostle and pioneer of the Church who writes important Scripture and dies as a martyr for the faith.

What has been your worst rock bottom in life so far? How did you handle it? Were you faithful to God through it all? Did you blame God? Did you draw closer to God and pray more often and seek his answers in the Bible or did you turn away from him?

How did you grow in faith and character during that rock bottom in your life? Or did you?

How To Shift Your Thinking in Rock Bottom

It was said in the message, “Somewhere along the line, we started again to believe that if we just do the right thing… good things… we’ll get good things in return. And sometimes that is what happens. But the problem when we start using this way of thinking, is that it’ll only lead to a life of let downs and disappointment. It may even lead some to walk away because they truly believe God cannot and will not love them unless they do more and try harder.”

Why do you think that doing the right thing does not always lead to getting good things and a good life in return? 4

What does it say about this world and about our hope for the world to come - heaven?

1. Lament - The are full of times that David poured out his heart to God with anger, sadness, regret, depression, anxiety, etc. He was radically honest with God. One example given to us in this week’s message was Psalm 142:1-2 - “I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him;I declare my trouble before Him.”

I (Scott Weber) had a habit for many years of going out to my hot tub late at night and praying out loud to God with lament. As a pastor of many years, I needed a place and opportunity to pour out my complaints to God. In the process of lament, God would turn my heart toward the direction he wanted it to go. But it often started with lament. If I started with praise or requests, it just didn’t feel honest. By starting with raw honesty, I was able to allow God to speak back to my heart (usually through Scripture I knew) and bring me back to the place where praise would be more authentic and my requests would be more appropriate. When I would come back inside the house, my wife would often say, “Did you solve the world’s problems?” Because she could hear me even from inside the house!

2. Hope - We have to keep our focus on our faith in Jesus and his promises to us. That includes his promise that he is always with us and his promise to return and take us to heaven one day for eternity.

Matthew 28:20 - “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

John 14:2-3 - “…I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

3. Perseverance - If we keep our focus on these sure promises, then the earthly problems we face are easier to endure. We can rejoice in the midst of trials even when we intensely dislike the trials we are going through. Remember James 1:2-4 -

We don’t have to be thankful for the difficult circumstance, the tragedy, the consequence … but we can have a forward thinking perspective that brings joy. We know the end, and it is heaven! 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are not called to be thankful for the difficult circumstance but “in” the circumstance. We are always to keep our eyes on Jesus and heaven.

Do you have a process of lament, hope and perseverance in place as you face the troubles of life? If not, make a plan to do so this week. Share with the group your plan.

5 Compass Life Group Resources Bible Story Study Fresh Prince – Week 3 - ‘Rock Bottom’

Read Genesis 39:20-23, 40:1-23 and then use these discussion questions and principles to apply God’s word to your life.

1. Being at “rock bottom” doesn’t always mean that we did something wrong and are being punished by God. Do you agree with this statement? What does the Bible say about this idea? (Clue – Jn. 9:1-3).

2. Do you think that Joseph’s years in prison grew him spiritually? Discuss.

3. Have you grown spiritually through your “rock bottom” experiences? Discuss.

4. Joseph trusted in God and continued to use his spiritual gifts, even in the midst of his trials in prison (Gen. 40:12-19). Are you trusting and loving God by serving others with your gifts, even during difficult times? Share with the group some ways that you can do this.

5. It’s OK to express our anger and frustration with God (lament), but ultimately we need to move forward in hope as we remember God’s promises. Perseverance has been described as, “A long obedience in the same direction” (Eugene Peterson). Which of these conditions are you experiencing currently (lament, hope, perseverance)? How can your life group help you in your struggle? Divide your group into pairs or small groups of prayer partners, spend some time sharing with one another and then pray for one another.