Our Joseph Opportunities
Our Joseph Opportunities
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
7:13 PM
When studying the Old Testament as I was teaching seminary, I saw how many times Joseph had overwhelmingly difficult situations. Situations that would easily be seen as taking him down for good. Situations that many of us wouldn't see a way out of. The interesting thing is that after each of these situations, Joseph not only survived, he thrived. He came out better than he came in. And these difficult and unfair situations gave him opportunities to grow and succeed that he would not have had if he had stayed in the same situations he was in.
Young Joseph was envied and then sold into slavery by his brothers. And then they told their father that Joseph had been killed by an animal, so Jacob didn't even know to look for him. They sold him for only 20 pieces of silver. Not even the price of a full slave, because he was young.
However, Joseph ended up being placed or sold to the captain of the guard in Egypt, Potiphar. Joseph worked hard and "the Lord was with Joseph" and Potiphar saw that the Lord blessed everything he touched, so that Potiphar ended up entrusting almost everything to Joseph's care and control. This seemed to impress Potiphar's wife, so she tried to seduce him. Multiple times. When he refused her time and time again, she ended up accusing him of the very thing she was doing and Joseph was sent to prison. For years. Being sent to prison could be enough to discourage almost anyone. But Joseph didn't give up. He worked hard and ended up impressing the man in charge of the prison who, just like Potiphar, put Joseph in charge of everything in the prison. And during these years in prison, he interpreted dreams through the power of the Lord for some other prisoners. One of them got out of prison, but still didn't remember Joseph. But somehow, when Pharoah had a dream that he didn't understand, the word got to Pharoah that Joseph could interpret dreams. Joseph still hadn't given up. He had faith in God's giving him opportunities. Even in the hopelessness of prison. When Joseph interpreted Pharoah's dreams, Pharoah was impressed and put Joseph as second in charge in Egypt.
After each big disappointment, Joseph had an even bigger opportunity --opportunities that would have been difficult to predict. Joseph continued to have faith against all odds.
How many times might we be missing our Joseph opportunities because we are discouraged and we don't see how things could work out? What if we believed that everything was working together for our eternal good? How might we see things? Would more opportunities be available just because we were more open to them? Because we are looking for them? President Nelson recently said to "expect miracles." I believe most of us have more opportunities available to us than we think. But many times we don’t take advantage of them because we can't even see them.
This sometimes happens because of the wealth of information and choices available to us. For us to process all of the information and choices available each day would cause overwhelm and overload. Often, it is just not the best use of our mental energy. So, our brain constrains or limits our choices. Most of the time, this is efficient and good for us. It allows us to spend time on the things that matter more. But sometimes this isn't the best. And we don't even realize it because our brains think that they are helping us and keeping us safe and efficient.
But, when we feel discouraged or restless, sometimes that is just an indication that we need to look closer at what we think our choices are. We feel like we are victims and have nothing available to us that we want. But when we are feeling like this, if we look closer, we often find that there are choices available to us that we hadn't before considered. Even if they seem limited. Joseph's choices weren't to get out of slavery or out of prison right away. But he didn't just sit there and waste away or do the bare minimum. He did his best and thrived wherever he was. Even in what could seem like hopeless situations, he worked and did his part and allowed the Lord to be with him and to bless and inspire him. How often when things look rough, do we just feel resigned and try to just endure? Parts of us just shut down. We aren't even taking advantage of our full opportunities and choice. In large part, because we just don't even see the choices or opportunities. When we mentally and emotionally give up, we aren't growing. And we feel justified in that because in some situations, there just doesn't seem to be room to grow. Perhaps we just start where we are. We start small. Somewhere where we do have control. I have heard the suggestion that we just start by making our bed. Something we have control over that we can do everyday. And when we have mastered that, we start cleaning and organizing and decorating our room or our living space. There are small ways in which we have control and agency where we can make a difference. Even if it's just a bit to ourselves. And as we see our control and success in these little areas, we begin to see where we have more control and success as we branch out. But to do it right, we have to start in the center, at ourselves. If not, we are trying to control others and situations where we don't have control and then we feel in control of nothing, which causes frustration and discouragement. So, when feeling frustration and discouragement, it's wise to look at where you really have control and what you are actually trying to control. When those things are different, you are setting yourself up for failure and disappointment and that 's when it's wise to look at yourself and get serious with where you do have control. Even if it is very small. In concentration camps, those who did the best were often those prisoners who focused on the things they did have control. Sometimes if it was only what was going on in their own heads and hearts.