The Wisdom Within

When reflecting on the story of Joseph’s life, one cannot help but notice that God took a nobody and made him a somebody. He used the skill sets that Joseph had to promote him into a place where he could be used for the kingdom’s good. Similarly, inside of you are giftings placed there by God to provide the leadership your local assignment needs to advance the kingdom. 

Instead of fretting about how things are going, get going into becoming the person God has called you to be. There are words of wisdom deep inside of you that are your guiding principles for your leadership here and in the future. By developing the proper use of words, you begin to uncover the wisdom buried inside you. 

Joseph did not get in trouble because God called him into leadership. He got in trouble when he used words as a bully pulpit to demean his brothers. His brothers threw him into the pit out of the pride of pain, then schemed to defraud their father. If that were the end of the story, it would have been tragic. God did not allow the undercutting of Joseph’s leadership to stop his plan for Joseph’s ministry. A decade later, there was a famine in the land, and Joseph’s father sent his brothers to search for grain and other household provisions. 

Can you imagine Joseph’s pain when his brothers came begging him for food? Or the revenge that must have taken hold of his mind, even for a few seconds? As a leader, you can either live or die by the words you speak, and Joseph was going to live into the best of who he was by speaking life and love over his brothers. 

Are you speaking life and love to the people around you? The reality is that the pressure of ministry will elevate what is inside of you, and it will either uncover or uncut what you are trying to do as a leader. 

Retake Opportunity

In reality, Joseph did not allow past mistakes to overtake the opportunity God was granting the family. He held one brother hostage in a mirror image of what had happened to him so that he could manipulate his other brothers to bring their father to him. This one event reveals that even leaders anointed by God can fall short of his glory. 

Sometimes the pain of the past does come back up and rear its ugly head. Pain, unless rejected and indeed given over to God, can be compressed to come back up later in the most unlikely times. Thankfully for Joseph, he used the pain and turned it into a promise of unity with his family.

Rewind Opportunity

When Joseph finally revealed himself to his family, there was a reunion that was decades in the making. Past hurts and problems vanished in the twinkling of an eye. At that moment, his brothers saw the God change that had come over Joseph. The darkest pain can bring forth the brightest light. 

Sometimes it takes adversity to bring out the best inside of your leadership. Instead of seeing a leadership detour as a determent to your plan, observe God’s plans. Sometimes the past can entail the hope for the promise to come. God used the past to propel his vision over Joseph’s life. If he can do that for Joseph, he will do that for you and for God’s people as a whole.

If you learn anything from this part of Joseph’s life, it is to use your words as an opportunity to rewind the past. Propel your ministry forward by choosing your words carefully. Use wisdom and discernment in how you act and react. Live out your faith by faithfully speaking, working and serving like Jesus in all your interactions. When you do, you will uncover and uncut the wisdom inside of you, and become the leader God has created you to be now and into the future.

Desmond Barrett
Desmond Barrett
Desmond Barrett is the lead pastor at Winter Haven First Church of the Nazarene in Winter Haven, Florida. He is the author of several books and most recently the co-author with Charlotte P. Holter of Missional Reset: Capturing the Heart for Local Missions in the Established Church (Resource Publications) and has done extensive research in the area of church revitalization and serves as church revitalizer, consultant, coach, podcast host and mentor to revitalizing pastors and churches.

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