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I. THE IMPORTANCE OF TRIAL.

1. Because trial and persecution test men's professions, they are used as the winnowing fan in the Lord's hand. "He will throughly purge His floor." In persecution, the mere professors, the camp-followers and hangers-on, soon flee away, for they have no heart to true religion when the profession of it involves the cross. They could walk with Jesus in silver slippers, but they cannot travel with Him when His bleeding feet go barefoot over the world's rough ways, and therefore they depart every man to his own. Oh, man, if thou be a child of God thou art like a house which He is building with gold, and silver, and precious stones; but by reason of thine old nature thou art mixing up with the Divine material much of thine own wood, and hay, and stubble; therefore is it that the fire is made to rage around thee to burn out this injurious stuff which mars the whole fabric. If the Holy Spirit be pleased to bless thine afflictions to thee, then wilt thou be daily led to put away the materials of the old nature with deep abhorrence and repentance, and thus shall the true work of God, which He has built upon the sure foundation, stand in its true beauty, and thou shalt be builded for eternity.

2. Every good man is not only tested by trial, but is the better for it. To the evil man affliction brings evil, he rebels against the Lord, and, like Pharaoh, his heart is hardened. But to the Christian it is good to be afflicted, for, when sanctified by the Spirit, trial is a means of instruction to him second to none in value. In the case of Joseph. —

(1) It corrected the juvenile errors of the past.

(2) He learned in his trial much that was good for present use. That God could be with him, even in a dungeon. That temporal things are not to be depended upon. To "cease from man," etc.(3) The chief use of trial is very often seen in our future lives. It gave Joseph power to bear power. It trained him to bear the other dangers of prosperity. In the prison he learned to speak out. His whole course had been a rehearsal fitting him to be bravely truthful before the king.

II. THE PECULIARITY OF THE TRIAL. "The word of the Lord tried him." How was that? Potiphar tried him, and the chains tried him, but did the word of the Lord try him? Yes. But there is a previous question — how did he receive any word of the Lord? His dreams were to him the word of God, for they were communications from heaven; the instruction he received from his father was also the word of God to him; his knowledge of the covenant which God had made with Abraham and Isaac, and his father Jacob, was God's word to him. Moreover, the secret teachings of the Holy Spirit quickened his conscience and afforded him light on the way. When there was no written Word the Divine Spirit spoke without words, impressing the truth upon the heart itself. All these were to Joseph the word of God. How did it try him? It tried him thus, — the word said to him in his conscience, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Without that word he would not have been tried, for nature suggested compliance with his mistress's desires. The test, however, he could bear: grace enabled him to flee youthful lusts and to cry, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" The trial which arose out of his innocence must have again tested him by the word of God. There he is in prison — for what? Why, for an action so pure that had he been set on a throne for it he would have well deserved it. Do you not think that many questions perplexed him while he lay in prison? What problems were put before him — Is there a moral governor of the universe? If so, why does He allow the innocent to suffer? Why am I in fetters, and the lewd woman in favour? Could not an omnipotent God deliver me? Why then does He leave me here? Could Joseph in the face of such questions still cling to the faithful word? He could, and he did; but the word tried him, and proved his constancy, his faith, and his integrity. Then, too, the word of the Lord which he had heard many years before would come to him and try him. His trembling heart would say, Has God ever spoken to you at all? Those dreams, were they not childish? That voice which you thought you heard in your heart, was it not imagination? This providence of God which has prospered you wherever you have gone, was it not after all good luck? Has the living God ever revealed Himself to one who at length became a slave? Look at your fetters, and ask if you can be His child?

III. THE CONTINUANCE AND THE CONCLUSION OF THE TRIAL. Trial does not last for ever. Cheer up; the tide ebbs out, but the flood will return again. He who counts the stars also numbers your sorrows, and if He ordains the number ten your trials will never be eleven. The text says, "until"; for the Lord appoints the bounds of the proud waters, and they shall no more go over your soul when they reach the boundary of the Divine "Until." "Until the time that His word came" — the same word which tried Joseph in due time set him free. If the Lord gives the turnkey permission to keep us in prison, there we must remain, "until" He sends a warrant for our liberation, and then all the devils in hell cannot hold us in bondage for an instant longer.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

WEB: until the time that his word happened, and Yahweh's word proved him true.