Today, Ray continues with the journey of Joseph and how his trustworthiness was put to the test …

One of the many qualities that God is wanting to develop, in each of us, is faithfulness, or reliability, in carrying out a task—1 Cor 4:2 (NIV): Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. And He has some interesting ways of assessing what He can entrust to us.

For example, Luke 16:10-12 (NIV): ¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

This passage highlights (at least) three major areas of life where God continually assesses what level of responsibility He can entrust to us, in outworking His purposes in the world.

1.  When God assesses if we are ready to handle some major responsibility in life, He doesn’t look at how we handle the big issues of life—He looks at how we handle the little issues of life! Perhaps He looks at whether or not we turn up for appointments (on time), endeavour to observe other commitments we make, observe the road rules…and many other possibilities. This could be a helpful prayer: ‘Lord, please show me if there are areas of my life where I am being dishonest with very little.’

2.  When God assesses if we are ready to be entrusted with true riches, He looks at how we handle worldly wealth. What might be meant by true riches? Perhaps opportunities to partner with God in outworking His purposes. Whatever this might cover, He then assesses how we handle our finances. Perhaps He looks at whether or not we pay our bills (on time), seek to minimise waste, are prudent with our finances generally…and many other possibilities. This could be a helpful prayer: ‘Lord, please show me if there are areas of my life where I am not being trustworthy in handling worldly wealth.’

3.  When God assesses if we can be entrusted with property of our own, He looks at how we handle other people’s property…that could include property belonging to other individuals, employers, churches, other organisations, the community, the government or anyone else. This could be a helpful prayer: ‘Lord, please show me if there are areas of my life where I am not being trustworthy with someone else’s property.’

Joseph was entrusted with caring for everything Potiphar owned. And, then, with caring for all of the other prisoners, and for everything done in the prison, where he was unjustly sent. What could have looked like backward steps, to Joseph, were actually forward steps in God’s plan for his life. And, in both cases, Joseph received favour and God’s blessing because he proved to be trustworthy and excelled in everything he did.

Similarly, some of our greatest capacity development could occur when we find ourselves in positions of relative obscurity, or doing apparently menial work, like Joseph. And it may be that we have to go through what looks like a backward step, in some way(s), in order to move forward in the purposes of God. Will we prove to be trustworthy in such challenging situations?

Now, to eventually be in a position to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph needed, first, to be able to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker. And, to do that, he not only had to be able to correctly interpret dreams, he also had to qualify in other crucial ways….

Ray Graetz
July 30,2024