Series: Citizenship
Message: Hopeful Faithfulness in Prison
Preacher: Tony Hunter
Reflection: Sam Millen
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Ame Fowler
Live Beyond: Chelsea Mensink
Live Purpose: Emily Ellis
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Genesis 40:1-23 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: When I was 17 years old, I somehow convinced my parents to let me travel in the Fiji Islands, staying with family friends along the way. I had many memorable experiences, including trying not to vomit from a windowless bus (the buses had no windows) while cars were passing by with their windows rolled down. I lost a lot of weight, but gained many insights. My high school English teacher had always maintained we would learn more in one day travelling than he could possibly teach us throughout a school year, and I proved him right. One valuable lesson I picked up rather quickly was the wisdom in wearing a sulu (a kilt-like garment) in the humid heat. I purchased my very own navy blue tailored sulu (with pockets) and felt much more comfortable, especially when there was an ocean breeze! However, I never mastered getting on the back of pickup trucks modestly. Everyone knew when to look the other way.
The people I was staying with wanted me to experience missionary life. I was taken to a prison in order to preach. This was before I ever thought of becoming a pastor (I wanted to be a doctor). This was a daunting task for a teenager trying to figure out life in a foreign country. I still remember telling the prisoners about Joseph and encouraging them to be good prisoners, just like he was. I have no idea if my brief talk did any good. It was much shorter than anticipated. I assumed the prisoners listening to me were serving sentences for crimes they had committed. It never occured to me that somebody in the audience might have been innocent. More than a lesson for inmates to become model prisoners, Genesis 40 concludes another dreary tale of “bad” things happening to “good” people. Poor Joseph!
In his recent book, Theodicy of Love (2018), John C. Peckham shares how David Hume framed this dilemma (in a footnote on p. 4):
Hume wrote, “Epicurus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?
Peckham, a seminary professor at Andrews University, succinctly summarizes a response from Christianity on the next page:
The free will defense is widely viewed as the most successful defense against the problem of evil to date. Put simply, it claims that God granted creatures a kind of free will that is incompatible with determinism, and it is thus impossible to determine that all beings freely do what God desires. Tragically, some creatures exercise their free will to do that which God does not desire (i.e., evil), and although God possesses the sheer power to determine all events, doing so would negate the free will that God has granted according to his benevolent purpose. Evil, then, is the result of creaturely misuse of free will (p. 5)
Although this argument seems fairly straight forward, many unanswered questions remain.
Adventists have highlighted the “Great Controversy” motif and others agree with us that we are in the midst of a cosmic conflict. I like the quote Peckham uses towards the end of his book from C.S. Lewis: “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage” (p. 170).
Joseph didn’t seem to question why “bad” things were happening to him. Or if he did, he avoided getting stuck there. He served God regardless.
Recalibrate: How have you related to the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Respond: Ask God for faith that He is able to use both the good and bad experiences in your life to accomplish His purposes.
Research: Read Theodicy of Love by John C. Peckham.
Remember: “Joseph said to them, ‘God is the only One who can explain the meaning of dreams. So tell me your dreams’” (Genesis 40:8, ICB).
Sam Millen is the pastor at Anacortes Adventist Fellowship in Washington State. After living in five countries on three continents (and five states), he feels at home on Orcas Island with his wife and three kids.
Read Here I Am with your child. As you go through your day with you little one, choose to care, share, help, and love as an expression of God’s love for everyone. Simply live love, even towards the people who really annoy you or in the situations that frustrate you. Trust me, you are going to need to pray for extra help for this one.
Joseph was far from home and surrounded by people who believed differently than him. He was faithful to God, and God was with him through everything. Joseph didn’t quit when life was hard. Have you watched Finding Dory? Remember Dory singing, “Just keep swimming?” She had a goal and kept with it even when she was far from home and life got hard. Talk with an adult about a time when you were trying something that was hard to do, like reading a book with big words or riding your bike for a long distance.
When I was in fifth grade, I had the best teacher—Mrs. Smead. She was so kind and understanding and I tried to be the best student I could. I wasn’t the top in the class, but I was diligent and did my best. When sixth grade began, Mrs. Smead entrusted my friend and I to grade her fifth graders’ spelling tests. I was very honored, since my friend and I were the only sixth graders who helped her.
Even though Joseph was a prisoner, he was assigned to be in charge of all the prisoners. Even in prison, he did the best he could and his diligence was rewarded. The more diligent we are, the more responsibility we are given. Can you think of a time you were rewarded for your good work and diligence?
It seems to me that I am always trying to rush out of one season of life to the next. Two years ago, when I was a sophomore at Walla Walla University, I did a summer internship as a chaplain at Auburn Adventist Academy. About a week into the internship, I felt convicted that I needed to stay there for the entire year. After a few weeks of fasting and praying for it, I decided to talk to my parents about staying at Auburn for the whole year. The idea was shut down almost immediately no matter how much I tried to reason. Naturally I was distraught because I was convinced that it was where God wanted me to be. But instead I went back to Walla Walla University and God opened the door for me to intern as a chaplain at the local academy. I realized that this was His plan all along. Even though I was confused and I doubted God’s voice, as the school year progressed I realized that being at the academy in Walla Walla was where He wanted me. Joseph was in a similar boat. When the baker and chief cupbearer left prison, Joseph asked them to remember him when they left the prison. However it wasn’t God’s time for him to leave prison. Joseph tried to take matters into his own hands to get out of prison, but God needed him to wait a little while longer for freedom to become a reality. Today, write down some things that you have been trying to take into your own hands and ask God to take control. It’s a scary thing sometimes because you don’t know how long this season may last. But ultimately God’s timing is perfect because He sees the complete picture.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Ame Fowler has fifteen years of youth and children’s ministry experience and has served as a leader with TOP kids. She and her husband enjoy ministry through coffee, and live in Chattanooga, TN.
Chelsea Mensink serves as the family ministries director at Crosswalk Church in Redlands, California. She is a delightful and talented children’s pastor who just oozes fun and love like a squished Twinkie.
Emily Ellis is a junior studying theology at Walla Walla University and interning at the Eastgate Seventh-day Adventist Church.