Could things get much worse?
He was alone. He was in prison. And, he had an indefinite sentence.
How did it come to this?
He used to have a fabulous life, but that was all a very long ways away now. Gone was his freedom. Gone was an abundance of comfort. Gone was connection with family and friends. Gone was connection to his people, to his country of origin – he was imprisoned in a foreign country.
His life had completely fallen apart. His brothers hated him – they were consumed with jealousy. He had been abused and abandoned by his brothers. He was sold as a slave to a foreign country. He had been falsely accused of sexual assault by his new master. He was now rotting in prison.
He is, of course, Joseph.
“What happened to the dream of my brothers bowing down to me? What happened to the dream of my father and mother bowing down to me? Where is the goodness of God? Where is God in all of this? Why have I been abandoned and forgotten?”, were questions that must have crossed his mind a number of times.
However, he was not abandoned and forgotten.
Where was God in the midst of all of this? He was right in the middle of it all…
“…because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”
What? You call this success – Joseph is in prison.
And here is where the lesson is found. Joseph has two lenses through which he could see his situation: he could look at what is, or he could look at what isn’t. He could look at what he has, or what he hasn’t. He could look at the glass as half empty, or half full.
He could choose his attitude.
The fact is, according to scripture, the Lord was with Joseph and was giving him success and favour. Joseph could have been consumed with anger, resentment, bitterness, pride, self-centeredness, self-pity and the like, but it appears he was not.
He chose to conduct himself righteously, he chose to maintain his character, he chose to remain faithful
Joseph chose an attitude of surrender, and faithfulness to God.
Like Zig Ziglar said, “Attitude determines altitude.”
Joseph’s attitude was to see beyond his circumstance, to somehow by faith see what he had instead of what he had lost. Sure, I have no doubt he had times of deep sorrow and doubt in the midst of his distress, but it appears he didn’t waiver in his faithfulness to God.
And God was with Joseph giving him favour and success even though his brothers were consumed by jealousy and hated him; even though they abducted him and sold him into slavery; even though he was falsely accused of sexual assault, even though he was in prison…
God was with him, even though…
What will your attitude be in your situation?
Will you look at “God with you” or will you look at the “even thoughs”? Will you remain faithful in the midst of the trials and the testing, or will you abandon your beliefs, character and right actions in the midst of difficulties? Will you choose faith and gratitude, or will you choose anger, resentment and bitterness?
Will we choose to humble ourselves, or will we stand alone in arrogance? Will we choose self-pity and feel sorry for ourselves, blaming others for our condition and situation, or will we surrender our hopes, dreams, expectations and shortcomings to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?
What will we choose?
The Lord is more concerned about our courage, character, conviction and calling than our comfort and convenience. The Lord sees who He has created, crafted and called us to be and has invited us into the epic adventure of the Kingdom of God in us and through us. He loves us enough to refine us like gold.
However, in the midst of His purposes He has given us the free will to choose our attitude. Will we align with the plans and purposes of God, or be at odds with the plans and purposes of God? We can choose.
Our attitude determines our altitude.
Genesis 39: 2-6
“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes…the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had…”
Genesis 39: 20-23
“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”
Joshua 24:15
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”