“It’s all about perspective.” Have you ever heard that before?
Perspective is something we all know we need to have, but it’s something we don’t always know how to have. ‘Having perspective’ can feel like a difficult task at times; it’s not easily defined; it seems rather subjective; and after all, how do you actually do that—‘having a better perspective,’ that is?
Broadly speaking, ‘perspective’ ultimately boils down to where we put a mental emphasis. Asking ourselves several questions can help us get a read on our perspective:
What am I devoting the most attention to?
What am I expending the most energy on?
What am I giving the most emotional, spiritual, and psychological authority to?
Or, what is it in my life that currently consumes the majority of my mental bandwidth?
Perspective is about how we channel our mental bandwidth, and what we choose to channel it to. Perspective operates like a mental muscle. It isn’t something we gain so much as it is something we train.
For all of us, especially when it comes to disappointment and pain, our temptation is to place an emphasis—focus attention, expend energy, and consume thinking—upon the ‘thing’ that isn’t going our way, unfortunately at the expense of everything else.
Developing a healthier perspective, therefore, becomes a matter of shifting our mental emphasis. It means breaking the pattern of emphasizing the negative and giving more credence to what else is happening around you. It’s not an attempt to diminish or trivialize anything; rather, it’s an attempt to develop a balanced, objective look at the bigger picture—noting all factors involved, not just the unsettling ones.
The story of Joseph serves as a compelling template for how to develop a healthy perspective. If you’re familiar with the story of Joseph, you know it’s not an understatement to say that he went through the pits—literally.
However, what’s fascinating is that throughout Joseph’s story, the Bible pairs a peculiar evidence of God’s background-working providence to each mention of Joseph’s pain and disappointment.
The text of Genesis 39 invites us to develop this view of God, and teaches us how we can train our perspective to see more than, and to see beyond, our mere unfortunate circumstances in seasons of hardship. Take note of verse 1:
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. (Gen. 39:1)
Slavery – Captain
What happens? Joseph is sold into slavery, and the captain of the guard buys him.
Now, be honest. When you just read that verse, what idea immediately took the emphasis in your mind? Slavery. Right?
For whatever reason, we tend to zero-in on the negativity element of any given situation. In this verse, it’s slavery. It becomes the primary emphasis, the main take-away, and it constitutes the majority of our mental bandwidth.
But that’s not the only thing happening in the verse. We can easily skim over a significant detail: ‘the captain of the guard buys him.’ This is important. Joseph wasn’t sold to anybody. He was sold to a powerful individual.
Upon the backdrop of Joseph’s God-ordained calling to be a political leader, you could actually identify his slavery to be a turning point, even upward momentum, in his political career. Because through slavery, he was connected to an influential political leader. Even his slavery—as bad as it was—was nevertheless became an opportunity, a catalyst that ignited Joseph’s rise to power.
Interestingly, the text even says “Joseph went down to Egypt.” Circumstantially, he was going “down” indeed. But in the economy of God’s providence, Joseph was only going further “up.”
See, when we read this verse through the lens of circumstance, ‘slavery’ becomes the emphasis. But when we read this verse through the lens of providence, ‘captain of the guard’ becomes the emphasis.
And for us, the principle is strikingly clear: In your pain, look around. Don’t be too quick to put an emphasis on what isn’t going your way in a particular circumstance. Ask God to give you eyes to see how He is accomplishing his will for you in his providence.
If you look at your life through the lens of circumstance, you will find only discouragement because you will be placing the emphasis on the wrong thing. What you lost. Where there’s pain. How you’re in a position of brokenness. But if you look at your life through the lens of providence, however, you will find encouragement precisely because you will be placing the emphasis on the right things. What you’ve gained. Where there’s opportunity. How you’re now positioned for something greater.
But verse 1 isn’t the only time it happens in chapter 39. It happens again in verse 20 as well after Joseph is falsely accused for making sexual advances towards Potiphar’s wife. The verse reads the following:
Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. (Gen. 39:20)
Prison – King
What happens here? Joseph is thrown into prison having been falsely accused, now with the prisoners of the king.
Let’s do the same exercise. When you read that verse, what word immediately takes the emphasis? Prison. Right?
‘Prison’ is the word that naturally sticks out. It’s the word that instantly overrides our mental bandwidth. Our brains default to identifying the negatives and giving them our emphasis. But we are doing this only because we’re interpreting Joseph’s life, once again, through the lens of circumstance.
However, if we read Joseph’s life through the lens of providence, we will see a different, greater emphasis instead. The emphasis is not on ‘prison.’ The emphasis is on ‘where the King’s prisoners were confined.’
This is important. Joseph was not thrown into any jail. He was thrown into a royal jail.
Upon the backdrop of Joseph’s God-ordained calling to be a political leader, you could actually identify this situation of harsher imprisonment as actually a stepping-stone in his political career. Why? Because through imprisonment, he was placed in the proximity of an even higher political leader, Pharaoh. This type of imprisonment was yet another degree of upward momentum to Joseph’s rise to power. Through this new set of circumstances, Joseph’s calling to lead became crystallized more and more—albeit through unpredictable ways.
It is true, Joseph’s immediate surroundings changed for the worse.
Whereas he was once a slave in a mansion, he was now a slave in a prison. And reading through the lens of circumstance would place the emphasis on a worse place. But reading through the lens of providence would put the emphasis on a greater person instead. Whereas Joseph was once a slave in a mansion of the captain of the guard, he was now a slave in a prison of the King of Egypt.
Circumstance would tell you that going from the mansion to the prison would be a demotion environmentally, but providence would tell you that it would be a promotion politically. Instead of only being observed by the Captain of the Guard, now Joseph was being observed by the King of Egypt. As the story progresses, Joseph’s imprisonment went further ‘down,’ but Joseph’s calling went further ‘up.’ And the rest is history. Circumstance suggested that life was only getting worse; providence suggested that life was only getting better.
Joseph went from the pit with his brothers to parole with Potiphar; and from there to prison of the King, then to the palace with the King: God exalted Joseph to second-in-command over the greatest empire in the world. Education could not have taken him there. Family connections could not have taken him there. God’s route was different and unconventional; but that’s how God works.
Joseph’s circumstances got worse, he went ‘down’…
Forsaken Brother → Slave → Prisoner
But in the process, Joseph’s connection with power got better, he went ‘up’…
Family → Captain of the Guard → King
And as a result, Joseph’s calling became clearer…
Brother → Attendant → Second in Command
It is not a coincidence that the Bible pairs each and every one of Joseph’s ‘downward’ circumstances with a ‘upward’ providence of God along the way. Truly, the details surrounding Joseph’s hardship were more important than the hardship itself. And by looking at his story, we can now approach our story with confidence.
What About You?
Where do you find yourself in life right now?
Did you do the right thing, and as a result, you got ‘bumped’ down for it? You’re single because you have godly boundaries? You didn’t cheat or steal, and yet, someone who did got the raise instead of you?
Joseph’s immediate circumstances looked incredibly grim, too. But if you zoom out and see the bigger picture of what God was accomplishing in Joseph’s life, you could possibly suggest that Joseph’s circumstances actually looked even better. And the same is true for you, too, with whatever you’re going through right now.
In our pain, the easiest thing to do is look inward. But the best thing to do is look outward. In your pain, look around. In your monotony, look around. In your disappointment, look around. Take time to look at your other circumstances. There is likely a host of providence around you—suggesting something peculiarly encouraging right now and giving you a glimpse of what God is up to in your life.
Pray that God would give you eyes to see what He is accomplishing in this season of your life that wouldn’t be possible otherwise without the catalyst of that particular hardship. Ask God to give you the perspective to see the things that are positive, peculiar, personal; and not just focus on what doesn’t align with your desires right now. Ask yourself these questions:
Who has God put in your life right now? Why might that be?
What kind of work has God put in your life right now? Why might that be?
Where has God put you right now? Why might that be?
Now, in light of all those things, think about their timing. What kinds of opportunities have opened up for you because of those things? Why might the timing of each of these be significant for you right now?
While Genesis 39 is full of hardship, accusation, discomfort, and loss—it’s also chalk full of God’s providence over you, His promise to be with you, and His persistence that He is for you. 5 times it mentions some variance of “but the LORD was with Joseph”, and 5 more times it mentions some variance of “and the LORD gave him success.”
Wherever you are in life right now, you can be assured of this: The LORD is with you, just as He was with Joseph. And He’s working for you, just as He was for Joseph.
Devote time to looking out, not just looking in. Observe the peculiar, providential things that are interestingly paired to your pain. Identify those ‘captain of the guards’ and those ‘kings’ that God has sovereignly placed in your life. And then, take heart. He’s up to something good.
“Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, Divine Love would have put you there.” – Charles Spurgeon
