Pharaoh swept his hand out wide, in order to include all that massive land of Egypt, and expounded, “It’s all yours, Joseph.” Then he took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s hand. You know what that ring signified, don’t you? It was actually the platinum charge card of that day. It was actually the way the king stamped the invoices, the laws, or anything more he needed to confirm or validate with his seal.

Now Joseph had that ring on his finger, placed there by the Pharaoh himself. When the reward comes, thank God without pride. Only God can bring you thru and out of the dungeon. Only God can reward you for your faithfulness. Remember, with meekness, that it is God who has put you there. A small number of you are on the edge of promotion and you do not even know it, because God doesn’t announce His appointments ahead. What you’ve got to do, while you wait, is to believe His promises.

While in the darkness of your dungeon, by religion, trust him to bring the light of a new dawn. The God of Joseph will stay beside us in the dungeon days ; he won’t forsake or forget us. He is going to be there in the blast of the winter storm, holding out the guarantee of spring. He’ll be there thru the darkest night, silently reminding us of the guarantee of morning light.

Joseph learned a damaged and ashamed heart isn’t the end, but the start. When the affliction stopped, he’d been refined, and he came forth as gold. He had become an individual of bigger stability, of deeper quality, of stronger personality. God’s guarantees are just as much for us as they were for Joseph. His tender mercies go with us from the pit to the apex.