God’s greatest gift is more responsibility

By Nick Blaylock–

I recently reread the story of Joseph in the Old Testament of the Bible.

If you are not familiar with the story, please read it (Genesis 37-45) – full of betrayal, wrongful accusations, injustice, crying, love, the whole gamut of juicy story “must haves”. Quick run through though: Joseph is his dad’s favorite, his brother’s sell him into slavery, his master sells him to a powerful person in Egypt, and then he is accused of raping his master’s wife and sent to jail. He explains the dream of the second most powerful person in Egypt and is released from prison to become this person’s right-hand, and I will stop there.

I just want to highlight on one reoccurring, minute detail in this story. While he was a slave, the writer of Genesis lets the reader know that “the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered”. When the master saw that the Lord was with Joseph, “he put Joseph in charge of his entire household”. Again later, when Joseph is in prison, “the Lord was with Joseph and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden” and the warden “made Joseph responsible for all that was done there”. Equation: Joseph is in conflict, has God’s favor, lives the greatest life possible in that conflict, perhaps even more great than any life he might have had without it.

What I read from this: God’s favor, prosperity, kindness, reward is designated responsibility – God’s abundance is more work. Even as a slave and prisoner, Joseph was living an abundant life.

It seems so backwards, but leave it to God to use contradiction when tackling the mysteries of life. I.e. Lion and the lamb, easy yoke and light burden, blood-stained white robes, alpha and omega, life and death.

Jesus made this statement: “I came so that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Well, what does a “full” life look like? He also said, “whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Is it scenarios like Joseph’s that Jesus might be pointing to, that to live the fullest life, we must accept responsibility, outside of our agenda or plan, most likely outside of our comfort, and go to work? You could even say we might have to lay aside ourselves, or “lay down our lives” (John 15:13).

We find life in the giving up of it. For me, it is no coincidence that Jesus died, and then rose to new life. This is a complex and beautiful picture of how our simple and mundane lives could and should look. Once we give our lives in the work of it, the daily nitty gritty, the small sacrifices, we start to feel more alive. (I recognize that “alive” is a grey term, but I will get into more of that in later posts)

To end, the story of Joseph is so counter to the way I was offered theology. God did not deliver, did not “save” from trouble, did not “break the chains of slavery”, did not take away conflict. Rather, God’s favor, his greatest gift was more responsibility. Joseph’s humility in the acceptance of responsibility is what brought change.

Who delivered Joseph, God or Joseph? Both, and. In a good relationship, both parties have freedom and choice. So, the better question: What is our responsibility? How much is within our ability? You see, the tricky part about God, He never specifies (more on this later). So, why not just shoot for the moon? Just love: give, work, and enjoy.