Work gets a bad reputation in most modern people’s minds. They think the surest road to happiness, security and fulfillment is a winning lottery ticket. If they have any familiarity with the Bible they might recall Genesis 3:7–19. “…cursed is the ground because of you; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;… By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That is what God told Adam after his disobedience and rebellion. But God intended a much different purpose for work than punishment.
When God made the first man He placed him in a beautiful garden and told the man to tend it and take care of it. In fact, if you drill down on the original Hebrew words, ‘tend and keep’ can more literally mean ‘worship and obey’. If you’ve been in any church service, even the little children enjoy worship and Jesus himself says “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”, (Matthew 8:10). Adam’s job was learning about and naming all the animals, eating freely of the fruit of every tree but one, and hanging out with God Almighty in the cool of the evening.
Here in Genesis 39 we continue Joseph’s story, but rather than the privileged, slightly clueless, teenager of chapter 37, we find a young man who has been transformed. He’s discovered that he has a gift from God and that God himself is faithful. As you’ll recall from the many chapters and years it took for Abraham to finally learn God’s faithfulness, we now see Joseph trusting in God and being faithful in obeying God no matter what new trial or betrayal comes his way. Let’s start with Joseph’s gift. The coat of many colors gift from his father is long gone, but Joseph’s heavenly father gave him the gift of ‘administrating’ (1 Corinthians 12:27). As soon as Joseph was sold to the Pharoah’s Captain of the Guard, even that pagan man, Potiphar recognized that “the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands” (v.3). Potiphar then made Joseph overseer of his house and “the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake”. To make sure that Joseph would learn to trust the giver and not the gift, God allowed a trial to come in the form of Potiphar’s wife. But Joseph trusted God and maintained his integrity. In the ordinary course of things, Potiphar would have simply had Joseph executed for insulting his wife and casting a cloud over Potiphar’s own reputation. Instead, Joseph is sent to prison.
In our flesh, we are thinking, “That’s not fair! Joseph was innocent.” But God has better plans. Step by step He is going to move Joseph to the place and time God wants him to be in order to save a multitude of people during the widespread famine in the Near East and northern Africa, including his own family and that descendant of his older brother Judah, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God. Joseph goes from a pit, to Potiphar’s household, to a prison, to Pharaoh’s right hand man so that the gift of administrating and a heart fixed on God can be used for God’s will.
The late, great preacher and teacher, Dr. Charles Stanley had a life principle that’s worth learning: “Obey God and leave the consequences to Him.” If you are truly a Christian, then the Holy Spirit is living within you and the Gifts of the Spirit are working to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in you and anyone God puts in your path. And the best way to discover what your God given Gift is – is by prayer, study and work. Joseph was an administrator. The Old Testament prophet Amos was an agricultural worker (fig picker). Jesus was a carpenter. Peter and John were fishermen. Luke was a doctor. Read Colossians chapter 3 and obey the words of verses 23 and 24:
“Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”