Have you ever wondered what determines if a person will or will not be a success? What are those vital ingredients necessary for success? For decades many considered the intelligence quotient or IQ test to be an important measure of potential. However, through the years we have seen many people with near genius IQ’s become colossal failures. More recently some have tried to measure people’s EQ or emotional quotient to determine an individual’s chances for success. They tried to measure a person’s ability to empathize with people, delay gratification, control impulses, persist and interact with others. However, once again the data proved to be an inaccurate indicator of potential. Paul Stoltz came up with the AQ or adversity quotient as being an excellent indicator of potential. Through his research he discovered that almost all successful people in every field have one thing in common, they get back up when they fall down. They refuse to give up. They are amazingly resilient; they have a high adversity quotient. There is one person who stands out in the Bible as having an extremely high AQ and that is Joseph. He was a man that kept moving forward despite being constantly disappointed by those around him. His ability to trust in God despite overwhelming adversity is a reminder of what God can do with someone who has a high AQ and a lot of faith. Are you ready for some good news? Although you cannot do too much to increase your IQ, you can measure and dramatically improve your AQ. You can enhance your ability to take on challenges. As we will learn from the life of Joseph faith plays an important role in determining your AQ. So let’s explore how to have a faith that endures despite the disappointment.
I. Joseph’s family disappointed him.
A. Joseph’s family was the picture of a dysfunctional family.
1. Joseph’s father Jacob had four wives of which Joseph’s mother Rachel was the favorite.
2. Joseph’s mother would die giving birth to his youngest brother Benjamin.
3. Jacob was an overindulgent father this was shown in the favoritism he displayed toward Joseph.
4. Jacob never tried to conceal his favoritism; he showered Joseph with attention and extravagant gifts.
5. Joseph’s ten half-brothers were extremely jealous of Joseph’s favorite status.
B. Joseph’s father did not understand the depth of the brother’s hatred toward Joseph which opens the door for them to exploit and abuse Joseph.
1. Scripture reveals three main things that fueled the brother’s hatred toward Joseph.
a. Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph which served as a constant reminder of his favored status.
b. Joseph was constantly tattling on his brothers.
c. The two dreams Joseph related to his brothers detailing how they would bow before him.
2. Jacob dispatched Joseph to see about the well-being of his brothers. They were grazing the flocks near Shechem several miles north of Hebron. Not finding his brothers in the city, Joseph began to search the pasture lands. A man who found him there directed him further north to the area of Dothan.
3. As Joseph approached, the brothers recognized him and plotted to kill him. They would be rid of that dreamer once and for all.
4. Reuben argued that they should not shed blood, just throw Joseph into a cistern and leave him.
5. Reuben hoped to be able to go back and release Joseph at a later time.
6. Joseph was stripped of his special coat and thrown into an empty cistern. The brothers, oblivious to Joseph’s cries for help, sat down to eat. During the meal they spotted a caravan of Midianite merchants making their way toward Egypt.
7. Judah suggested that rather than slay their own flesh and blood, they sell Joseph to the caravan and thus gain some profit for themselves. The brothers pulled Joseph from the cistern and sold him to the caravanners for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph was on his way to Egypt.
8. Reuben was distraught when he returned to the cistern to find Joseph missing. What would he tell his father? A scheme was devised to conceal their crime. They slew a goat, and dipped Joseph’s robe into the blood. They took the bloody robe to Jacob and asked him to identify it. Jacob jumped to the conclusion that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast.
9. Joseph was faithful to God in spite of the fact that his family let him down.
II. Joseph’s employer disappointed him.
A. The Midianites sold Joseph to one of Pharaoh’s officials, a man named Potiphar. The hand of God had spared Joseph from sure death and placed him in a strategic position in Egypt.
1. Potiphar was the head of security for Pharaoh.
2. In Egypt his master observed that everything the Hebrew did was blessed with success. Step by step Joseph rose to prominence, from:
a. Potiphar’s personal attendant.
b. To Chief of the household servants.
c. To the manager of Potiphar’s entire estate.
3. Everything was entrusted to his care. The Lord showered blessing upon Potiphar’s house. The Egyptian came to trust Joseph implicitly.
4. Joseph faced severe temptation in the house of Potiphar. His master’s wife had her eyes on the handsome youth. She constantly urged him to become sexually involved with her.
5. Joseph firmly rejected her advances with two sound reasons:
a. He could not betray the trust of his master.
b. He could not sin against God.
B. Joseph will be disappointed by his employer as he becomes the victim of misrepresentation at the hands of scorned woman.
1. She embraced him one day when they were alone in the house and urged him to lie with her. Joseph fled from her presence leaving his coat in her clutches.
2. The infuriated woman than screamed, showed the coat to the other men of the house and accused Joseph of attempted rape.
3. Potiphar was convinced by his wife’s story. He ordered Joseph thrown into the royal prison.
4. In the prison Joseph was forgotten by his master, but not by his God. The Lord was with him and blessed him. Once again Joseph began a rise to leadership. The warden so completely trusted him that he made Joseph chief administrator of the prison.
III. Joseph’s friends disappointed him.
A. Two of Pharaoh’s personal staff officers were in prison at the same time. In one night the two of them had dreams.
1. Joseph could tell by the look on their faces the next morning that they were perplexed about something. He encouraged them to relate their dreams because dream interpretations belong to God.
2. The cupbearer related a dream in which he had seen three grape branches. He saw himself taking the grapes from that vine and squeezing them into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph interpreted this to mean that within three days the cupbearer would be restored to his position.
3. Encouraged by the favorable interpretation rendered for the cupbearer, the chief baker related his dream. Three baskets of baked goods were on his head, and birds were eating these goods from the top basket.
4. Joseph indicated that within three days the baker would be hanged and the birds would eat his flesh.
B. The interpretation of these dreams would begin a chain of events that would lead to yet another disappointment.
1. In return for this interpretation Joseph asked that the cupbearer tell Pharaoh about the injustice which had been done him, first by being forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and then by being framed for rape.
2. On the third day, at a birthday banquet, Pharaoh lifted up the heads of his two officers. The cupbearer was restored to his position, the baker was hanged. In spite of the obvious implications of Joseph’s uncanny ability to interpret dreams, the cupbearer did not remember him.
3. The exact chronology of Joseph’s stay in prison cannot be determined. He may have been in prison for ten years prior to meeting Pharaoh’s officers. Two years elapsed before the cupbearer remembered Joseph.
4. Pharaoh will begin having dreams that will greatly trouble him jogging the memory of the cupbearer, and God will use these events to restore and bless Joseph’s life.
IV. Three lessons from Joseph’s life that will help us develop a faith that endures despite the disappointments.
A. People are all imperfect, learn to expect some disappointment.
1. People are not 100% bad or good, we all are somewhere in between.
2. Even those who we perceive as being the worst people in the world have some good qualities.
3. Even the best people are capable of sin, so no one is worthy of our total trust.
B. Have a high adversity quotient in your relationships.
1. Keep forgiving people, trusting people and serving people even when they disappoint you.
2. Avoid allowing yourself to become a skeptical, bitter, accusing person.
3. Joseph never let his disappointments in people destroy him, when his brothers came to Egypt seeking food, although he was in the position to seek revenge he resisted the urge to retaliate.
4. He instead forgave them and took care of their needs.
C. Put your total trust in Jesus Christ.
1. Jesus is the only one worthy of our complete trust.
2. Throughout the story of Joseph we see that God can always be trusted even in the most difficult times.
3. Jesus Christ can help us develop a high AQ, and the ability to take on any challenge that comes our way.
4. Joseph’s story should encourage us to keep pressing on despite the disappointments through this we will develop a faith that endures.
Thomas Edison was considered to be a dunce by his elementary school teacher, but he was a persistent inventor. It took him twenty years and fifty thousand experiments to invent a light, durable, efficient battery that could be used as an independent power supply. Someone once said to Edison, “You have failed fifty thousand times. What makes you think you will ever get results?” Edison replied, “Results? Why, I’ve gotten a lot of results. I know fifty thousand things that won’t work!”
