Hope in a Hard PlaceSample

Attitude Makes All the Difference

If I found myself in the same predicament as Joseph, I might have felt sorry for myself and cried for the first month. But apparently that’s not what Joseph did. In Genesis 39:2 we see that “the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man…in the house of his master the Egyptian.” 

Now, when I think “slave” I don’t think “successful man.” And it seems that if “the Lord is with you” you wouldn’t be betrayed by your brothers and sold into slavery! 

Obviously, there was something supernatural going on. Joseph was in a very hard place, but he was successful and God was with him. 

Maybe you’re in a hard place right now. But you have a choice how you respond, and it could make all the difference.

We don’t see many details of Joseph’s daily life as a slave, but do you think he slept in every morning, feeling sorry for himself? Did he cry and wring his hands all day, mourning over his plight, wishing he was home and planning revenge on his brothers? Did he have a bad attitude and snap at everyone around him?

I don’t think so. The Bible says that his master saw that the Lord was with him, so he made Joseph overseer of his house, and put everything under Joseph’s authority. Someone as smart as Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s guard, didn’t just put a teenage kid in charge of his whole household unless that kid had some good skills.

My guess is that Joseph was up early every day, working hard, using his God-given organizational skills to benefit the household—yes, the household of his captor.  He probably had a good attitude, because he ran this house smoothly and he was the boss of the other slaves. It’s likely that most of the people under his leadership were older than he was, yet they listened to him. The supernatural was working for Joseph, but he had to do his part in the natural too.

I have to ask myself: in the face of being betrayed by loved ones, exiled from my home, and sold into slavery, would I rise up the way Joseph did? Would I remember the dream in my heart so that I excelled in that hard place? Would I have a good attitude? Because that’s what made all the difference.