The example of Joseph's Success as it relates to Grief and Life

What we can learn about success and life from Joseph the son of Jacob son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham.

I will not go into great detail of Joseph's life rather bring out a few details for this article.

Joseph was favored by his father Jacob and it caused a lot of jealousy and anger with his older brothers. When Joseph took food to his brothers who were tending sheep they conspired to kill him. Ruben talked his brothers out of killing him and instead suggested they sell him to the Midianites (Arab tribe) as a slave. The next recording of Joseph is that he is the master of Potiphar's house and all he owned.

Now here is the first lesson; No employer promotes or trusts a whiner! Somewhere from being a favored probably spoiled son to being over Potiphar's holdings, Joseph had to overcome anger and hate. Unfortunately nothing in the Bible tells us how he did this. Whether it took him years or if it was easy or hard. We can only speculate but my guess is that it did not happen overnight and that it was very difficult. Whether is was hard or easy the point is that he did it.

Second lesson: The devil will test and try to destroy us especially when we are successful. Next as the Bible tells us Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph. Joseph was a loyal servant and faithful to God's laws. Then Potiphar's wife lied and accused Joseph and caused him to be sent to prison. The devil will try to tell us, see Joseph followed God and look what it cost him. He is a liar and deceiver and uses every dirty trick to discourage us.

Third lesson: The only failure is to fail to get up one more time than we fall. Next Joseph is the keeper of the prison with all the keys. What an intrusting story it would be to know how he did this. The important thing is that again he would not have been given this great trust if he was a whiner or complainer. No wise employer would ever trust or promote someone who is full of anger or hate.

Fourth lesson: Patience Joseph interprets the two dreams of two fellow prisoners, one to be hanged and the other to be restored as Pharaoh's butler. His request to the butler was to remember him. How long it was between the butler being restored to the time he told Pharaoh about Joseph we do not know but it appears it was a long time. If this long time had caused Joseph to lose his good attitude he would have been removed as the keeper of the prison. We can be assured that Joseph although he may have been distraught did not lose his good temperament.

Fifth lesson: God is in charge of our lives when we trust and obey Him. The Bible says Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. He was sold into slavery as a young man so the first three lessons or stages of his life took twenty plus years. I will skip his life story to the day he reveals himself to his brothers. Genesis 45:5-7 tells us that Joseph said God caused all that happened in his life so that his family could be preserved from the famine. This is an astounding concept. God caused Joseph's terrible grief, slavery and betrayals to save a his family. It means God is willing to allow terrible things to happen to us for a greater and wiser purpose. He tells us His ways are not our ways. We must trust that He is wiser and has not given us trials to torment us but to help us and or others.

Sixth lesson: Forgive everyone especially God. Somehow Joseph was able to forgive not only his brothers who probably did not deserve forgiveness yet he forgave them. His statement suggests that he also did not blame God for his terrible slavery, betrayal, prison and time away from his home and parents. The character Joseph emulates is remarkable to say the least.

The concept that God caused Joseph's demise for a higher purpose is one that few can digest or be comfortable with. The world teaches that any success is by our mind and strength and that God has little or nothing to do with it. This capitalized statement is a popular definition of success. WHATEVER THE MIND OF MAN CAN CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE HE CAN ACHIEVE and IT WOULD NOT HAVE COME TO YOU IF IT WAS NOT MENT FOR YOU TO ACCOMPLISH IT. I will be referring to this statement several times in the ensuing article. To me this is the devils teaching and here is why.

* In the creation in the Garden of Eden God said there would be thorns and thistles. Thus He did not intend for our life to be easy but to be hard and that we would have to sweat and work to feed ourselves. I personally do not think He did this to punish us but to cause us to learn and gain character.
* The story of Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac shows God tests and tries us to teach us. There are numerous scriptures that talk about the reigns of the heart and similar attributes. Reigns of the heart means our thoughts and heart. Not as the above quote but in harmony to God as suggested in; "Love God with all your heart mind and soul."
* Job's story can be summed up with one single short statement. When his wife and friends accused him of bad thoughts or actions he never wavered. His wife told him to curse God and die, or in other words be angry at God and give up. Job chose to honor God and never gave up.
* In the long story of the Children of Israel being led out of Egypt in the wilderness for forty years there are hundreds of examples of trust in God vs giving up or wickedness. However there is one example that to me is paramount. It is the gift of the brazen serpent. Who ever was bitten by a poisonous snake could look at the brazen serpent and be healed. Many died simply because they did not trust in God and did not look at the brazen serpent. numbers 21:9 I see this example as a lesson about God and Jesus Christ. It is; if we look to God or the Savior without anger and hate and with trust we can be healed. We cannot be healed if we are full of anger at God.
* Consider Luke 12:16 where Christ taught earthly riches fail and cannot be taken to heaven, but that we must store up charitable attributes and love God.
* Another interesting story about success is the parable of the rich man poor man taught by Christ starting at Luke 16:19. The beggar or poor man's name is Lazarus. Lazarus in life had sores and begged for help from the rich man. Both die and the rich man goes to hell and Lazarus to Abraham's bosom in heaven. This parable has numerous lessons such as life is full of sores and torments and eternal life has nothing to do with earthly acquisitions as so many think. Is not the worlds definition of success money and power and anyone who does not have it are failures full of stinking thinking. Christ over and over taught a different lesson about success that it is not accumulation in this life but the characteristics we acquire in our heart and mind.
* Mark 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." I have heard many interpretations of this to mean one cannot obtain heaven and be rich. That is not the message of this verse. It is that in the days of Jerusalem there was a wall surrounding the city to protect it from any enemy. The gates through the wall were low and small and were called "eyes of the needle" In order for a camel to enter the city the burden had to be removed from the camel and then the camel had to walk through the gate on its knees. The Savior was teaching that it is difficult for a rich man to give up wealth and humble himself on his knees to enter heaven.
* Next consider John 9:1 "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." For many years I thought of this example as teaching about the love and power of Christ to heal. One day I recognized it has a much more powerful message. It is that this man was given his blindness by God from his birth to help him. In other words that through his life experience of blindness he became a better person. Becoming a better person means more to God than wealth or pain in life. This is opposite to the capitalized success quote that teaches we succeed by our thoughts. This man was blind for his benefit not because of his thoughts or actions but because God loved him so much he gave him a greater challenge. Not to punish as so many think like the disciples but to reward him in eternity. God's whole plan of our earth experience is not for mortality but for eternity. Therefore pain and sorrow as we know it is, if we accept it in the right way a blessing for our future eternal life. If we become bitter or angry we destroy what God is giving to us to make us better. To further support this concept consider verse 4 where the Savior is comparing Himself to the blind man and saying He must do the works God has sent Him to do. Christ experienced terrible persecution and probably poverty, yet He rose above it all by giving away his appetites and desires to obey His Fathers will.

Conclusion: I spent thirty years studying every book on success I could find until one day a friend told me the success books were having a negative spiritual impact on my life. I removed all of them from my home and began to study the scriptures and soon I learned three valuable lessons.

1. Whether you believe the Book of Mormon or not consider this story of Korahor a man who preached to the people that there could not be a Christ and that only a deranged mind would believe in Christ.
1. Alma 30:17 "And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime." In verse 53 he states the preceding was taught to him by the devil. Alma 30:53 "But behold, the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say. And I have taught his words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them, even until I had much success,..."
2. The success quote in capital letters in the beginning of this article says the same thing as verse 17 above, that the devil taught Korahor to teach. Note; Not all success books or teachers are bad, most teach great concepts, however be aware of the following concepts and embrace the good and avoid the bad.
3. This is what the devil teaches camouflaged as a success plan.
1. There is no Christ and no atonement for the sins of man, thus what one acquires in this life is all there is and there is no future of eternal life. (Success is money and power, get all you can before you die because when you die it is over and you cease to exist.)
2. Man must use his mental powers of positive thinking to succeed.
3. Man prospers by his genius or ability to think and plan.
4. Man must be stronger than others to succeed and use that strength to conquer or take advantage.
5. If a man cheats or is dishonest it is the fault of the dumb victim for letting themselves be cheated.
2. The next thing I discovered is found in the three temptations of Christ as recorded in the New Testament. It is that this story is a very real temptation or that the devil was not playing a game but trying his very hardest to destroy Christ. It is that the devil has only three temptations and all sins or temptations can be categorized into one of the three temptations.
1. The temptation of bread is the appetites of the flesh. Sex, food, physical appearance and strength are all part of the temptation of bread. Christ taught that physical appetites are not the only thing in life but the entire word of God must be honored.
2. The temptation of jumping off the temple tower is pride. It means that we so often with the powers of our mind as taught by the devil decide what we want to do then tell God to bless our venture. This temptation means that we put our powers of mind and pride ahead of trust and waiting on God to direct our directions in life. Many times myself and others use all our capacity of planning and thinking to create a great plan for success then expect God to support us. This temptation is the opposite of doing the will of our Father as the Savior taught. Or in the words of Christ tempting God.
3. The temptation of satan telling Christ he would give Christ all the kingdoms of the world if He would bow down and worship him is a very real temptation. Again remember that the devil was serious and using his nuclear bomb not a water pistol. Also remember as in the entire scriptures all examples and stories are Gods messages to teach and help us. The fact that the devil could pay Christ is a very real and true thing. It is not some imaginary story.
1. The devil was cast to the earth to torment and afflict man. He is the God of the earth and our only protection is to treat him as an enemy as in the instruction of God to Eve when he said, "I will put enmity between you and the devil." Enmity means to treat someone as an enemy. It means that we must beware that the devil is an enemy to us and we must build our defenses by recognizing him as an enemy, if we are to overcome him.
2. It means we worship the devil anytime we are not in complete harmony with God. As the Savior taught we cannot serve man and God, we will lean toward one or the other but never be neutral. It means anytime we are not trusting and obeying God we are automatically following the devil. There is no middle ground we are either facing God or by not doing so being led by the devil. It means if we are letting our pride and appetites of the flesh control us we are worshiping the devil.
3. Therefore it means that we must recognize that the wealth and power of the world is the devil's to control and give to anyone who will worship him. This is a powerful and surprising message, that one can achieve great success as the world teaches by simply not following God. It means if we fail to follow God we are worshiping the devil and thus he the devil can pay us with wealth and power.

Conclusion: I fought these things with all the energy of my research of hundreds of success books. I would not accept these concepts until I gave up and removed my success books. I am sure others will find these concepts difficult as well. However if one will trust God and turn to Him one can be blessed with His power of insight and wisdom.

The message of these concepts has helped me cope with grief in the loss of our two children Jean and Tim. It is that this life is not all there is and what we think are bad things from God, we will some day see as blessings. He will not abandon us, His arms are forever reaching out to us. He is the good shepard who will leave the ninety and nine to find us.

There is an old saying, "If we are farther from God today than yesterday, who moved" Only if and when we give up anger and hate as the example of Joseph who was sold into Egypt will we be able to recognize and enjoy the love of God. Anger, hate negative thoughts as well as pride in our own strength puts a cloud between us and God.

When bad things happen to us we must not allow the teachings of the devil to deceive us into thinking there can be no God because He allows bad things to happen. Christ suffered greater pain than we will ever experience in the crucifixion as well as sweating blood from every pour in the Garden of Gethsemane. He descended below all of us in order to save us. He knows us and knows our sorrows and will be there upon our deaths to greet, love and comfort us if we honor Him with a life of love to God and our neighbor with all our heart mind and strength. If Christ being perfect accepted sorrow and pain how can we not endure our much less problems with a love and trust in Him? He certainly could have been born in a palace with gold and silver. It was no accident that He was born to humble parents in a stable to show by example that success is not wealth, power or an easy life. His promise of salvation to all who follow Him is real and eternal. He is the great healer and although we may not understand until we see Him again it is so.

How sad it will be if in this life we are so bitter and angry at God for our grief and hardships that when we die we look back and see if we trusted God we would have been so much better. That we destroyed God's attempt to help us be more successful in eternity. Anger destroys our ability to grow from our experiences. In grief we become so incensed with our loss that we forget our loved one is with Christ. Not only will anger impede our lives but also the joy of our deceased loved ones. The day will come we will see for ourselves that it is all for a wise purpose and that God makes no mistakes. His love is greater than we can begin to comprehend in mortality and there is a reason our loved ones have preceded us. They are not lost but simply separated and the day will come we will see them again. Their separation is like a one way mirror. We look to heaven and see our reflection and they look to us and see through the glass. They know our thoughts, problems and worries and may be close to help us. How sad it may be if in the next life we see they tried to comfort and help us and were unable to do so because we were full of anger and did not trust Christ.

Those who lose loved ones to criminal acts, depression or suicide must trust that God knows all and will make all things right. We cannot judge, God will love them and will do His wonderful loving healing for all who trust Him.

Joe Holmes