Notes of Faith April 30, 2025
On November 28, 1965, Howard Rutledge’s fighter plane exploded under enemy fire. He parachuted into the hands of the North Vietnamese Army and was promptly placed in the “Heartbreak Hotel,” one of the prisons in Hanoi.
When the door slammed and the key turned in that rusty, iron lock, a feeling of utter loneliness swept over me. I lay down on that cold cement slab in my 6 x 6 prison. The smell of human excrement burned my nostrils. A rat, large as a small cat, scampered across the slab beside me. The walls and floors and ceilings were caked with filth. Bars covered a tiny window high above the door. I was cold and hungry; my body ached from the swollen joints and sprained muscles...
It’s hard to describe what solitary confinement can do to unnerve and defeat a man. You quickly tire of standing up or sitting down, sleeping or being awake. There are no books, no paper or pencils, no magazines or newspapers. The only colors you see are drab gray and dirty brown. Months or years may go by when you don’t see the sunrise or the moon, green grass or flowers. You are locked in, alone and silent in your filthy little cell breathing stale, rotten air and trying to keep your sanity.1
Few of us will ever face the austere conditions of a POW camp. Yet to one degree or another, we all spend time behind bars.
My email contains a prayer request for a young mother just diagnosed with lupus. Incarcerated by bad health.
I had coffee with a man whose wife battles depression. He feels stuck (chain number one) and guilty for feeling stuck (chain number two).
After half a century of marriage, a friend’s wife began to lose her memory and her health. He had to take away her car keys. He has to stay near so she won’t fall. They had hopes of growing old together. They still may, but only one of them will know the day of the week and remember their life before dementia.
Each of these individuals wonders, Where is Heaven in this story? Why would God permit such imprisonment? Does this struggle serve any purpose? Joseph surely posed those questions to himself as he slumped behind his prison bars.
Joseph spent time in jail. Here’s the backstory.
In the household of Potiphar, Joseph moved up the career ladder like a fireman after a cat. He earned promotions. He earned clout. He earned attention — too much attention, in fact. It didn’t take long for Mrs. Potiphar to notice this handsome young Hebrew and to make her intentions crystal clear.
And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me’. — Genesis 39:7
Verse 10 says she courted him “day by day.”
Joseph had plenty of opportunities to consider the proposition. And reasons to accept it. After all, wasn’t she married to his master? And wasn’t he obligated to obey the wishes of his owner, even if the wish was clandestine sex? And it would be clandestine. No one would know. What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom, right? And didn’t Joseph deserve a little pleasure after everything he’d experienced? A little comfort? A little release?
But no. Adultery would have been only another form of abandoning his destiny. Another way of giving up. So young Joseph held firm.
Intended evil becomes ultimate good.
Unfortunately, so did Mrs. Potiphar. If she couldn’t flirt Joseph into her bed, she would force him. She grabbed for his robe, and he let her have it. He chose his character over his coat. When he ran, she concocted a story. When Potiphar came home, she was ready with her lie and Joseph’s coat as proof. Potiphar charged Joseph with sexual assault and locked him in jail.
And [Joseph] was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. — Genesis 39:20–21
Not a prison in the modern sense but a warren of underground, windowless rooms with damp floors, stale food, and bitter water. Guards shoved him into the dungeon and slammed the door. Joseph leaned back against the wall, slid to the floor.
I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.
— Genesis 40:15
Joseph had done his best in Potiphar’s house. He had made a fortune for his employer. He had kept his chores done and his room tidy. He had adapted to a new culture. He had resisted the sexual advances. But how was he rewarded? A prison sentence with no hope of parole. Since when does the high road lead over a cliff?
The answer? Ever since the events of Genesis 3, the chapter that documents the entry of evil into the world. Disaster came in the form of Lucifer, the fallen angel. And as long as Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8 NIV), he will wreak havoc among God’s people. He will lock preachers, like Paul, in prisons. He will exile pastors, like John, on remote islands. He will afflict the friends of Jesus, like Lazarus, with diseases. But his strategies always backfire. The imprisoned Paul wrote epistles. The banished John saw Heaven. The cemetery of Lazarus became a stage on which Christ performed one of His greatest miracles.
Intended evil becomes ultimate good.
Remember, God is not sometimes sovereign. He is not occasionally victorious. He does not occupy the throne one day and vacate it the next.
The Lord will not turn back until He has fulfilled and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart (mind). — Jeremiah 30:24 AMP
This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it does not bewilder God. He can and will use it for His purpose.
1.Howard Rutledge and Phyllis Rutledge with Mel White and Lyla White, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, 1965–1973: A Prisoner of War (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1975), 33, 35.
Excerpted from Never Give Up by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.
John 16:33
In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
Every day we experience trouble, discouragements, something unexpected that interrupts our norm. It needs to be taken care of to return to that norm. These interruptions can seem but a small irritation but others can change a day, a week, or more, in our routine. God is still in control and works out His plan for us through all of these “interruptions”. Trust in His plan. Work through the trials expecting God to get you to the other side, more gracious, more patient, more merciful, more loving…you get the picture. God uses all things to make us more like Christ in character. Learn to trust Him and use all things to bring glory to God and spiritual growth in you!
Pastor Dale