If we find ourselves in captivity, either from our own poor choices or through no fault of our own, regardless of the reason we are in great company. Jesus Christ Himself was briefly held captive before His crucifixion. Many of His apostles likewise became acquainted with the insides of prisons. Joseph of Egypt is a great example of someone who strived always to be righteous and yet continued to be placed in one form of captivity or another. Joseph is actually a great example because he never saw his captivity as a hindrance to his growth and personal development. I am sure that many of the slaves in the household of Potiphar saw themselves as victims with little to no agency and even less ambition to improve themselves or their lot in life. Joseph put his trust in the Lord and did all he could every day to multiply his talents and he became ruler over the whole house. And then, when he was betrayed and falsely accused and imprisoned without cause and then abandoned by his fellow cellmates, he continued to patiently rise above the pettiness of small-minded men and trusted that the Lord would see Him through this captivity on His own terms. Maybe it would have been nice if the Pharaoh’s butler had remembered Joseph when he gained his freedom, but then Joseph might not have been right where he needed to be when the Pharaoh had need of him years later. If we are trapped in captivity for far longer than we feel is right or fair, we can look to the examples of the servants of the Lord who were placed in much worse captivity and were much more undeserving of such treatment. But not so that we can criticize ourselves for whining about our own situation but so that we can draw comfort from the good that the Lord accomplished by having His servants in captivity at that time. Some of the most beautiful and poignant words that Joseph Smith ever wrote came to Him while He was in captivity. He was raised and exalted from the depths of Hell to a level of understanding and appreciation for the Savior and His atonement that He could have gotten in no other way. In fact, Parley P Pratt once described witnessing the Prophet Joseph Smith in the midst of his captivity. “I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” If the Lord has not yet seen fit to liberate us from our captivity, then He has a good reason for allowing us to continue to learn patience and humility and be refined and purified and raised above our current level of discipleship through our captivity. I hope that we will always be anxiously engaged in doing everything we can to escape from our captivity, but I hope also that when we have expended every effort and exercised every particle of our faith and yet remain captive still, that we will look forward to the promise that we will be plucked from the depths of the pit and snatched from the jaws of hell and raised above this vale of tears to a higher and holier sphere, where we will enjoy the peace and the joy and the knowledge that we have bought jointly with Christ for a dear, dear price.
