Whether your “work” is a traditional vocation, school, or being a stay-at-home parent, it is easy to allow our thought lives to revolve around our careers. Given how much time we spend working, it can feel all-consuming. Couple this with annual reviews, bonuses, or promotions and we can easily let our work performance inform how we evaluate ourselves.
Did we get the bonus we wanted? Did we receive recognition for a job well done? Did we do our personal best, or could we have done better? Is our child developing appropriately?
Consider for a moment some of the ways you define victory at work. Common answers may include:
- Promotions, bonus, public recognition, private recognition
- Personal best, setting new records
- Published, completed a large project/deal/etc.
At most places of work, there is external recognition for people who do well: promotions, tenure awards, “employee of the month” parking spots. In a perfect world, everyone would have equal opportunity to achieve these things, the awards process would be perfectly fair, and everyone deserving would receive recognition. Unfortunately, as we know, that is often not how the world works. Even when we do the “right” thing, our actions may be overlooked, ignored, or extenuating circumstances may prevent us from receiving the recognition we “deserve”.
In the latter chapters of Genesis, we see that Joseph was also deeply familiar with this reality. Joseph is treated unfairly many different times in Genesis. As we read the story, it seems like he simply cannot catch a break. Note, the full story of Joseph spans Genesis 37:1 – 50:26, but core scriptures related to this week’s study are below.
Excerpts from the Story of Joseph
Genesis 37:12-28
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.[a] Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels[b] of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
Genesis 39:7-20
7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.
11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.”
16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.” 19 As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.
Genesis 40:8-15, 23
8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” 9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Joseph and victory at work
To recap, first, Joseph’s brothers sell him to slavery. Then, he ends up as a slave for a government official (Potiphar). In slavery, he is obedient, diligent, and faithful. Unfortunately, the wife of his owner tries to seduce him. Though he rejects her, she lies about it and accuses him of rape, so he is thrown into prison.
In prison he continues to be diligent, obedient, and faithful. The guards even give him unique responsibilities for a prisoner. Eventually, Joseph comes to interpret dreams of two other high ranking officials. He asks one of them to remember him when he leaves prison, but the official forgets. Joseph is left in prison despite his obedience and faithfulness.
It would be completely understandable for Joseph to turn to God in the middle of any of these circumstances and to ask why God allowed such things.
Joseph is obedient and faithful, serving in whatever capacity he is in and giving credit to God for his skills. By all accounts of how Joseph is acting, he is “doing things correctly”. Yet, we would never know that from just studying the circumstances of his life.
If Joseph defined victory through his freedom, reputation, or recognition, he would see himself as a failure. Let’s pause on this point because it is so counter to how our culture operates today. Imagine losing your freedom, your reputation, and any recognition of your abilities. How painful would this be?
If you’re Joseph, how do you not feel angry, bitter, or resentful? How could you possibly say you’re achieving any type of victory in the middle of such horrible circumstances?
And yet – Joseph is achieving victory. Joseph achieves victory not because of his external circumstances, but because He consistently stays close to God. The Lord is with Him. Joseph consistently seeks to honor God through obedience and by faithfully giving credit to God in his interactions with others. Despite Joseph’s series of external failures, he is victorious every step of the way because of his posture towards God.
Though this may not be the message we want (we’d prefer that following God equals worldly blessings), it is freeing. It means we can be victorious in our work, regardless of whether we have the job, promotion, or recognition we want.
God’s presence in your life may bring worldly blessings – but it may also bring hardship.
But either way, when you seek communion with God through Jesus Christ, you are victorious.
Because communion with Him is what we were designed for and what our souls crave.
A note on the end of the story:
The story of Joseph takes many twists and Joseph is eventually elevated to the highest forms of government to oversee the land during a severe famine. God uses Joseph’s role to save thousands of lives, including the lives of his brothers who originally sold him into slavery.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[a] should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20)
It is tempting to read the resolution of the story and say “because God wrapped up the story so well, Joseph was victorious in the end”. But again, Joseph was not victorious merely in the end, but throughout the story, though his external circumstances were no indication of that. External circumstances are not evidence of victory. Yes, God chose to bless Joseph and use him in a seat of power – but Joseph was victorious every step along the way, because the Lord was with Him and because he was faithfully honoring God in all that he did. Joseph’s success was his posture towards God and the presence of the Lord itself. He was victorious because He was living in a posture that honored God and drawing near to Him, both in the hardships and the places of honor.
Reflection questions
- Looking at Joseph’s story, which one of his circumstances would have been hardest for you to face (losing freedom, reputation, acknowledgement of your abilities, or something else)? Why?
- In what way(s) have you defined victory at work in the past?
- Based on what we have read and discussed in Genesis, how do you think God defines success at work?
- What would you say is your primary definition of success at work?
- What are secondary definitions of success you look for at work?
- What are specific things you can do this week to anchor on God’s definition of victory in your work?
Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash
