The Favor of God

The commercialization of the “Blessing of God” has become a multi-million dollar business that extends from the pulpit, to books, to television and to online media. The promoters of this other gospel have capitalized on our insatiable appetite for wealth and possessions and have put forth an ideology that is the American Dream with a supernatural spin. This gospel not only promises material wealth and success but also physical health and a pain-free life. It offers an all powerful genie-like god who can be manipulated by anyone who thinks the right things and says the right words. It is a potent elixir that preys upon the weak minded, the disadvantaged, the unemployed, the poor, the sick, the dying, and those of immature faith.

It’s sad that they traded the glory of God for self promotion, the majesty of God for trinkets and bobbles, the sovereignty of God for self determination, the mystery of God for the immediacy of desire, and the mission of God for self satisfaction. The ongoing influence of this prosperity gospel also reveals a underlying Biblical illiteracy within the American church. But that is also a great opportunity for the Church of our generation to uphold the authority of the Bible and to teach the whole counsel of the Scriptures.

There are so many examples in the Bible that just don’t line up with the claims of the prosperity gospel: the saga of Israel (God’s chosen people); the account of Job; the heroes of the faith recounted in Hebrews 11 who were stoned, sawed in two, put to death by the sword, were destitute, persecuted and mistreated; and even the accounts of the life, teaching, suffering and death of Jesus, just to name a few.

But what got me thinking about this was the account of the life of the patriarch Joseph in Genesis 37-50. There is no question that one of the themes in the accounts of Joseph’s life is the favor of God. But, how is it that someone who was rejected by his brothers, exiled, enslaved, falsely accused, and imprisoned could be described as having the favor of God? I think it is because the favor of God doesn’t always look like what we might call a blessing.

The life of Joseph can help us to better understand the favor of God and our relation to it. Five times in Genesis chapter 39 alone (where Joseph is enslaved, falsely accused, and imprisoned) he is described as having the favor of God:

“The Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered” (Gen 39:2)
“the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did” (Gen 39:3)
“the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph” (Gen 39:5)
“the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden” (Gen 39:21)
“the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did” (Gen 39:23)

The message here is clear. Even though Joseph was away from his family, even though he had been betrayed by his brothers, even though he was a slave, even though he was falsely accused, and even though he ended up in prison, still the Lord was with him. Thirteen years Joseph was in slavery or prison yet the Lord used those hard, difficult circumstances to develop Joseph’s character and accomplish His plans.

Now to be fair to the entire story, Joseph’s life does come full circle and God does grant him blessings that were of the prosperity type. But not all faithful believers experience that same dramatic one-eighty in this temporal life (like Hebrews 11 clearly reveals). So let us set aside the notion that God’s blessing necessarily equates to health, wealth, and prosperity. That is not the consistent teaching of the Bible nor does it line-up with the lives of faithful believers in disadvantaged circumstances or with those that have been persecuted and martyred for their faith since the beginning of the Church.

If we look at Joseph’s life through chapter 40 we can see that God’s blessing isn’t always wealth and prosperity. The divine currency of God’s blessing can be ideas, insights, favor, opportunity, knowledge, and wisdom. We also see that in the providence of God He can use the hard circumstance of life as the refining crucible of our character and faith. Yes, God is a good father and delights in blessing His children but we must not forget that God’s blessing is ultimately for His purposes and His glory not merely for our pleasure, security, or benefit. Our perspective is always dominated by the temporal and our fleshly desires but God always has eternity in full view (which includes the now) and He is focused on His grand redemptive plan. Joseph understood this and explained it to his brothers before his death:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20

There are a couple other interesting things you can’t help to notice as being connected to the favor of God in Joseph’s life. First is that God’s blessing resulted in material prosperity for others not just for Joseph personally. God’s blessing of Joseph made Potiphar wealthy (Gen 39), preserved Pharaoh’s kingdom (Gen 41), and saved Joseph’s family and future Israel (Gen 42-50). Even when God was blessing Joseph with great success and long life, it was not about Joseph’s personal health, wealth, and prosperity. God blessed Joseph so that he could be a blessing to others. Secondly, God’s favor allowed Joseph to testify of God to those in high places: Potiphar, Pharaoh’s cupbearer, the chief jailer, and eventually Pharaoh himself.

May we be faithful and testify to the glory, sovereignty and favor of God, like Joseph, in spite of the circumstances of our lives.

God is good! God is King! God is at work and His purposes will be done!
I am blessed to be His child and have the privilege of working with Him in His Kingdom.