The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Bereishis 42:18, Yosef tells his brothers וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֤ם יוֹסֵף֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֔י זֹ֥את עֲשׂ֖וּ וִֽחְי֑וּ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲנִ֥י יָרֵֽא.
Rabbi Frand quoted a Medrash Rabbah which states that everyone should try be a Yirei Hashem. The Medrash identifies certain people who were G-d fearing and in so doing mentions Yosef.
Rabbi Frand then asked, but where do we see that Yosef was actually G-d fearing?
In answering the question, Rabbi Frand introduced the Yalkut Shemoni on Yechezkel which tells of how when Chananyah, Mishael & Azarya left the fiery furnace unscathed, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to say praises to Hashem and would have written his own, but an angel came and smacked him on the mouth and in so doing stopped him from praising Hashem. The Yalkut further writes that had Nebuchadnezzar written his praises of Hashem, they would have dwarfed Dovid's.
R' Frand next quoted R' Shabsai Yudelvitz who asked - why did the angel need to stop Nebuchadnezzar? He answered that it is easy to praise Hashem when things are good. It is much harder to do so when life is difficult. Nebuchadnezzar lived in the lap of luxury, so he was tested to see if he would still be willing to praise Hashem if his plans went awry.
Dovid HaMelech on the other hand had a much more difficult life. He was detested by his brothers and King Saul sought to kill him many times. And then after becoming king, his own son Abshalom rebelled against him and drove him out of Jerusalem.
And nonetheless, Dovid praised Hashem, even from the depths.
R' Frand tied the vort together by quoting the Ksav Sofer who writes that this was the reason why Yosef was able to say that he was a Yirei Hashem. Even when life was hard, he was able to recognize and praise Hashem.
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