Genesis 39: 2; “And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.”
God wants you and me to develop that overcomer mindset, the mindset of a victor. One of the best models of how to do that is found in the Old Testament story of a man named Joseph. When faced with adverse circumstances, Joseph could have maintained a victim mindset. He could have said, “Woe is me!” But instead he always kept the attitude of a victor.
I want you to notice three sources of adversity that came into Joseph’s life that have probably or will come into your life as well. First of all, Joseph had to overcome unloving actions from family members.
Genesis 37: 3 & 4 says; “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.”
If you are a parent, this is the danger of showing favoritism toward children. By showing favoritism, you are sowing discord and unhappiness in your family that will go on from generation to generation. Jacob out of selfishness decided to show favoritism toward Joseph, and he demonstrated that favoritism by making him a multi – colored garment to wear. This garment was more than a fashion statement. It denoted a place of honor, a place of authority, that Joseph would have over his older brothers. Every morning when they got up, the older brothers put on their shepherd’s clothes to go out and deal with the stinky sheep. But Joseph put on that multi – colored garment and lounged around the house day in and day out. No wonder his brothers resented him.
One day, Jacob told Joseph he wanted him to go out and check on his brothers.
When his brothers saw him coming in that garment they hated so much, they plotted to kill him. But Reuben intervened on Joseph’s behalf. He said, “let’s not kill him. Let’s just throw him in this pit over here.” So they threw him a pit while they had lunch. A group of Ishmaelite traders came by, and one of the other brothers, Judah, said, “We can make some shekels out of this. So they sold their brother for twenty pieces of silver.
Notice how quickly Joseph’s life circumstances changed. That morning he had been in a place of privilege, and in an instant he found himself in a pit. Have you ever noticed how quickly your life circumstances can change? Adversity can come into your life out of nowhere. You get up and go to work like you do every day, and there is a pink slip waiting for you. You go to the doctor’s office to get the results of your routine physical, and the doctor has some bad news for you. In an instant your whole life can change. That is the way it was for Joseph. Genesis 39: 2 says the Lord was with Joseph.” No matter what came Joseph’s way, the Lord was with him. There is something about unloving actions from family members that cut us and cut us deeply. But they did no undo Joseph. He had a victor mindset, not a victim mindset.