Prosperity

And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (Genesis 39:2)

The Bible never seeks to amaze, many times by turning our long-held beliefs and supposations on their head.

How can a slave be prosperous? How is someone owned by somebody else called prosperous?

How does this all tie with what we call prosperity? And how correct are we to associate prosperity with materialism?

Joseph’s prosperity is the actual definition of prosperity because it comes from God’s word.

What is the first interpretation of that?

The first thing we notice is that prosperity in God’s eyes has nothing to do with what one has. Because Joseph had nothing. He did not even own himself.

Prosperity is a state of the heart. It is the product of a healthy relationship with God as we see when we continue reading Joseph’s story.

That is what Potiphar saw to make Joseph head of his household.

It is the same thing the jailor saw to make him overseer in prison because we also see him being called prosperous there.

What am I saying?

Things do not define prosperity, at least the prosperity God’s people should be talking about.

A prisoner has no capacity to be prosperous. Yet Joseph was called prosperous even in prison.

We see the same with Jacob.

And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. (Genesis 30:27)

This man came with a staff as he said. But we see his boss and father-in-law confessing that he owed his wealth to him yet he had things and Jacob had come with nothing.

That is why we see pharaoh coming for a blessing from this refugee; because he saw in him something that his kingdom did not have.

It is the same thing we see with Daniel a refugee eunuch.

In fact, any study of Bible characters will demonstrate that prosperity has very little to do with what someone has.

It is some fruit of prosperity that we confuse with prosperity

Joseph did not become prosperous when he was made prime minister. He was made prime minister because he was prosperous. And he was as prosperous even when he was a slave and prisoner.

It is that prosperity that people saw in him that left them no chance but hand over everything to him. Because bossing over him could have messed with it. Like motivational brokers say, he had an anointing bigger or higher than theirs.

And it was the same with Jacob.

How can someone running away from his brother be prosperous yet he had even left his father’s wealth.

But that is what Laban saw.

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. (Daniel 6:3)

I hope you understand what I mean.

That excellent spirit is the clearest indication of a prosperous heart, since that is where prosperity springs from.

Laban was scared of letting Jacob go because he was not sure he could manage or sustain the increase Jacob’s prosperous spirit had brought.

That is the same reason Daniel served in three different kingdoms. None of those kingdoms wanted to have him far from the centre of things.

How then should we pursue prosperity?

We simply pursue what these Biblical prosperous pursued; a healthy relationship with God.

Our growth in the spiritual realm is what attracts prosperity to our spirits.

And with Joseph, we see it very clearly when he is offered what most people call the offer of a lifetime, the bosom of his boss’s wife. And you can bet that she was attractive.

How can I sin against God?

He did not live by situational ethics since it is very possible that even Potiphar wouldn’t have minded having the seed of that prosperity in his posterity, only that he couldn’t have blatantly ordered the same. I am sure that is why he did not have him killed or taken to a normal jail.

To Joseph what God said was final, irrespective of the order or consequences.

And we see the same with Daniel.

I am sure there was nothing inherently defiling in the king’s food since most of his other brothers gladly ate it. But Daniel took no chances.

What if? was an enough deterrent for him.

What I am saying is that obedience is the source of prosperity.

And I have quoted a few Biblical examples. Though that is the running thread as we read the Bible.