“The Joseph Factor”
Joseph’s story in Genesis 39 shows us how to serve effectively in the hard place. From God’s perspective Joseph was in the best place. God had a bigger plan and Joseph would play an integral part in it. So the painful times were used to position Joseph to be in the right place at the right time to accomplish God’s will and plan. The Joseph Factor is about serving effectively despite the pain of betrayal, blame, and outright bullying. It makes us wonder if we can even survive, let alone thrive.
“The best leaders rise during hard times by focusing on the right things.” (John C. Maxwell)
We know God is with us. In the darkest times of Joseph’s life and honestly, my own life, it is those words, “The Lord was with Joseph,” that made those hard times bearable. The Lord blessed him giving him success in the midst of those circumstances.
The LORD was with Joseph. His ordeal was probably worse than any of us have ever gone through. Yet God did not abandon him, even in the smallest way. If God allowed Joseph to be a slave, then he would be a successful man, even as a slave.
You can be successful even in the hard place.
We often complain that God put us in a terrible or difficult place. Yet He is trying to teach us to trust Him to bless us and make us successful (as He measures success) wherever we are.
Spurgeon said of Joseph, “Externally it did not always appear that God was with him, for he did not always seem to be a prosperous man; but when you come to look into the inmost soul of this servant of God, you see his true likeness—he lived in communion with the Most High, and God blessed him.”
Are you one of those people who thinks you can’t be blessed unless you’re in authority, in charge of things. Jesus lived and taught a better way – a life as a servant.
If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all. (Matthew 20:26)
“For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. (Matthew 20:28)
There are many wonderful titles for Jesus the Messiah, but one of the most meaningful is Servant of the LORD (Matthew 12:18, Isaiah 42:1). We can and must learn the blessing of being a servant; if it isn’t forced upon us, we can choose it.
Exercise the
gift of choice.
1. Choice: Challenges made Joseph better not bitter. Joseph exercised the gift of choice. He chose a different path than the one that might have been dictated by his dysfunctional home. This would likely qualify as one of his life chapters he did not read out loud. But Joseph shared this unspoken chapter as his “defining moment.” Challenges made them stronger. What happens to us in life will make us bitter or better.
Your dream is your compass for life.
2. Vision: His dream provided his life compass. Joseph’s dream, to which his brothers reacted so negatively, is recorded in Genesis 37:5–9. It outlines God’s plan for his life. Joseph knew that he was called to lead. His dream provided the compass that oriented his life through its breathtaking ups and downs.
3. Endurance: from pit to prison to palace. The unexpected twists and turns in Joseph’s life—from the pit, to prison, to the palace—were undergirded with one constant: endurance. While the first 30 years of Joseph’s life are significant for their pain and their pinnacles, Joseph lived for 110 years.
Take the high road for the long haul.
This means that Joseph lived faithfully, while prospering, for 80 years after his deliverance from the hard place (Gen. 50:22). Leaders are called to take the high road for the long haul. Leadership endurance can best be seen in the face of adversity.
4. Self-management: moral and ethical character. Joseph was “well-built and handsome” (Gen. 39:6). If you have been blessed with physical attractiveness, remember that you should utilize, as a part of self-management, your beauty to honor God and advance His kingdom. Joseph’s character shined through. Joseph did not succumb to sexual temptation.
Joseph refused to succumb to sexual temptation.
He responded, “ ‘How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ ” (Gen. 39:9, NKJV). Joseph refused to behave in an immoral manner, even though it would have been very easy to rationalize. A moral leader behaves in moral and ethical ways by always doing the right thing, even if no one looks on and there exists no way of getting caught. Joseph demonstrates a spiritual maturity, along with the moral character, to move to a greater sphere of leadership.
5. Diligence: perform every duty with fidelity. Diligent leaders maximize the opportunities you’re given, rather than the ones you wish you had.
Maximize the opportunities God gives you.
Joseph could have said to himself, I am destined to rule. It’s not my calling to supervise operations in an Egyptian prison. But wherever Joseph could make himself useful, he did. He maximized the opportunity before him.
6. Discernment: trace the hand of God in adversity. When you’re discerning, you have the ability to identify and read patterns behind apparently random events or actions.
Learn to trace God’s hand in adversity.
Spiritual leaders especially discern the movement of God in their life circumstances. At the reunion scene of Genesis 45:5–8, Joseph’s testimony forms a classic statement on providential discernment: “ ‘God sent me ahead of you. . . . It was not you who sent me here, but God’ ” (NIV). A final characteristic of the Joseph Factor is…
7. Compassion: grace not revenge to his hateful brothers. Effective leaders practice the art of forgetting, forgiving, and supporting those who previously failed them. Joseph’s brothers had wronged him in the most horrible way imaginable. He could have seized the opportunity to get even and he could have justified it, but Joseph had no interest in vengeance.
Leave vengeance in God’s hands where it belongs.
Which of these characteristics do you excel in as a leader? If you chose one to work on, which would it be? 2 Pet. 1:3 assures us that we have everything we need for life and godliness, including these outstanding leadership qualities.
I leave you with a quote from The Daily Coach: “Everybody has a chapter they don’t read out loud. Take a moment. Sit back. Marvel at your life; at the mistakes that gave you wisdom, at the suffering that gave you strength. Despite everything, you still move forward, be proud of this. Continue to endure. Continue to persevere. And remember, no matter how dark it gets, the sun will rise again.”
