Day 23: Success

Posted byDustan Stanley on Jun 17, 2010 in Blog | 1 comment

So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. – Genesis 39:6

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. – Genesis 29:23

Currently, I have begun a ‘Read the Bible’ in 90 days plan. Usually I don’t like these things, but in order to increase the discipline on my life I decided to go for this one. As of day three, I’m loving it.

This morning I read about Joseph, the Dreamer. You know, I identify with Joe a lot. First, when I was younger I saw some things to come, and it birthed a bit of pride in my heart. I didn’t realize that the dream God was giving me wasn’t about ‘my brothers bowing down’, but rather was about me reaching down and lifting my brothers up. I get that part of the story. It’s nice to realize that your dream from God is always about helping people and not about making us the next big ‘preacha’. Honestly, after traveling the world and meeting some awesome people, that kind of dream is pathetic. It’s not Biblical. Fame is no reward, but a tool. Money is to be mastered and used, not served. If our religion is spotted by selfish ambition, if the light in us is dark how DARK is our DARK (Matthew 6:23).

Anyway, that’s what the Lord has taught me over the past years, but about what I noticed this morning. Everything that Joseph did he did well. The blessing of the Lord was on Joseph, and everyone knew it. It wasn’t him trying to convince everyone that he was blessed, they saw it by how WELL he done his work for others. As soon as Potiphar placed Joe in charge business started booming. In fact, the sign of his success was that Potiphar did not concern himself with anything but the food he ate. Awesome.

Not fast-forward. Joe gets falsely accused and thrown in prison. But even in prison the Lord was with Joseph. The warden wound up putting Joseph over everything. Here, we see the line again:

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. 23 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.

Once again, Joseph is in charge, and his overseer is so confident that he doesn’t even pay attention. He knows Joseph will do the job right everytime. Bosses, wouldn’t that be a dream.

And finally Joseph winds up in charge of Egypt. When the big famine hit Pharaoh said, “Go to Joseph, do what he says.”

In my life I wish for the Lord to be with me and his blessing to be on me. I have it through Christ, but a SIGN of that blessing is that I will work harder and better that the standard, even to the point that those I work for will not have to wonder if I am going to do the job right. A sign of success is that your boss won’t be concerned that you won’t do the job, but will prop his feet up and brag to his coworkers how he can count on you. A sign of success is that even when hard times hit we keep working with all of our heart. We may hit a few bumps, but we just do a quick somersault and keep on swimming. A sign of success is that we bring Glory to God, by representing Him well in our job, home, ministry, and prison. A sign of success is that we accomplish all of these things with the final product being others being rescued and lifted up. A sign of success is that we can do all of these things with slipping into the corruption of the system, be it in the religious world or corporate.

Lord, help me. I want to be a success in your eyes. I know, we’ve got a long way to go, but I know that you’ll finish what you started. That’s me, the unfinished one.