Regina and I teach the Kindergarteners on Sundays. The curriculum we use is from Desiring God Ministries. Before we started, the church provided some general training and orientation. One of the exercises we did was to take an account from the old testament and teach it from a man-centered point of view — to make us aware of what NOT to do.

Yesterday on the way back from lunch I turned on the radio to listen to some afternoon Bible teaching. As the sermon started I was immediately intrigued as the preacher summed up the lesson to learn from the account of Joseph as:

Joseph succeeded because he refused to yield to self-pity, sexual temptation, or self-indulgence.

This preacher was by no means a “name it and claim it” type but he went on to say that God is interested in our success and wants to fulfill our dreams — just like He did Joseph’s. Excuse me but there is quite a difference in visions given by God and the aspirations of one’s accomplishments and achievements. Joseph wasn’t sitting around with the intentions of making it big in the political arena. And God wasn’t “the big genie in the sky” doing His best to accommodate Joseph’s personal ambitions.

I’m also curious what the preacher meant by “success.” He made it sound like the political promise of Pedro Sanchez, “Vote for me and all your wildest dreams will come true.” He never went on to mention anything about Joseph going to prison because he didn’t yield to sexual temptation.

Sorry but the lesson of Joseph is not “do the right things and you will be successful” — where is God’s glory in that? John Piper puts it like this:

This is an Old Testament version of Romans 8:28. All things work together for good for God’s people. All things, including all the evil done to Joseph and to Jacob his father. But notice carefully the way all three of these texts talk about the “all things.” These are things that God “meant” to work together for good. God did not just watch evil events unfold with no design and no purpose, and then bring good out of them. No, just as Joseph’s brothers meant it (purposed it, designed it) for evil, so also God meant it (purposed it, designed it) for good. That is why I said the word “sent” in Genesis 45:7 and Psalm 105:17 was important. The brother’s selling Joseph into slavery was God’s “sending” for salvation. God does not just bring good out of all things. He ordains what happens to us for our good and then infallibly brings good from it according to his purpose. God “sent” Joseph to save his brothers, even though this sending involved the sin of his brothers.

While we do have a call and are accountable to personal holiness, the account of Joseph is about God’s faithfulness and salvation of His people in ALL things — blessing and tragedy — even when we don’t understand. Find encouragement in this as life unfolds.