Do Your Job Well and Trust Him

 

2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat! Genesis 39:2-6 NLT

I have been reading about the story of Joseph starting in Genesis 37 and Genesis 39. I challenge you to go read those chapters because there is a lot of details that I am going to skip over to get where I am writing about today!  Today will be part one in the life story of Joseph.

Joseph lived in a dysfunctional family at best. He had one full brother and ten half-brothers. (Seriously, there was some real family drama from the beginning with the baby mamas, you need to read it yourself starting in Genesis 29.)  There was no hiding the fact that Joseph was his father’s favorite child, and this caused some real issues in the family dynamics. Jacob, Joseph’s father, had even gifted Joseph a beautiful, expensive coat of many colors.

There were many things that Joseph did that didn’t help his relationship with his brothers. Joseph would go out in the fields and check up on his brothers and then report back to their dad. Joseph would have prophetic dreams and then share the dreams with his family members, who did not receive the dreams well at all but then again, his delivery of the dreams to his family wasn’t the best either. Did I mention that Joseph was only 17? That probably had something to do with his delivery! His brothers called him, “The Dreamer.”

Let’s pick up in chapter 37:18 and go from there. Joseph went to check on his brothers and they saw him coming. At first, they had plotted to kill him but decided to rough him up and throw him in the pit to die, but then a caravan came by of Ishmaelite traders, so they decided to take up the opportunity to sell Joseph into slavery. After they sold Joseph, they took his prized coat and dipped in blood to return to their dad. This way their dad would think that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. Jacob was devastated.

Meanwhile the traders arrived in Egypt, and they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The bible says that Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. Let's pick up the story in Genesis 39.

I am sure Joseph felt betrayed and abandoned when sold into slavery by his own brothers. If he was like me at all, I would be going back over all of the dreams that I dreamt! I can just picture him laying in his dirty, stinky jail cell thinking, “What about the dreams you gave me God? Did you see what my own brothers did to me?” Those thoughts had to go through his mind. But God! In verse 2 it says, “The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.” Does that mean everything appeared to be perfect? No far from it! Yet Joseph still served God as he worked, and he served his owner well. The word says that Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in everything that he did and Potiphar recognized this!

I need to remember to serve God consistently even when the situations aren’t ideal or how I think they should be going. I need to remember that I am representing Jesus 24/7. There are times that I have to I remind myself, that I work for God, especially when I feel slighted or overlooked!  His benefits will always be so much better. I can trust God to make things right even when they don’t appear to be going well. God is in charge.  It is my job to simply do my job well to the best of my ability.  God will take care of the rest. Not only that, but you will also see in the rest of Joseph’s story that God used every situation to prepare Joseph for the future and to bless him! So, whenever you feel slighted at work or in life, remember who you serve and that He has it all under control, just trust Him and do everything to the best of your ability!

Stay tuned for Part Two in Joseph's story!  It is just starting to get really good!

Shanin

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