After Israel’s most beloved king, David, slept with Uriah’s wife and killed him to hide the adultery, David confessed before the Lord in Psalm 51, “Against you alone have I sinned.” There seems to be a potentially long list of offended parties, but before the Lord, David takes ownership of the sin as being against the God of heaven alone.

If we let that simmer in the background, notice these verses from my devotional reading this week with me. Joseph is a slave working in the household of one of Egypt’s rich and powerful leaders. The man’s wife hit on Joseph, who was apparently quite handsome, but he repeatedly rebuffed her advances. At one such encounter, she really poured on the intensity, and this is how Joseph handled it:

⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.

⁹“There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”

Genesis 39:8–9 (NASB95)

While there may be a dozen possible lessons, I want to focus on the last phrase and draw a few applications.

First, Joseph did not choose to view his assignment (in enslavement) as an interruption of God’s plan for his life but as a fulfillment of it. Admittedly, I would struggle to see enslavement as a sacred assignment from God.

Second, Joseph’s master had entrusted great responsibility to him, but Joseph ultimately saw that trust as being from God. How often do we think this way? This great (or dead-end) job is a divine assignment from the Lord. This staff is an assignment from the Lord. This community is an assignment from the Lord.

Third, Joseph’s actions at his work were inextricably linked to his worship of God. “I really want to tell that customer what I think!” is a response of worship…but likely not the one we would say we wanted to portray. That employee coaching sessions and difficult decisions… are all reflections of obedience to the God who divinely assigns.

Fourth, as a man and a leader, Joseph operated according to a specific moral compass beyond his own wisdom. There are countless examples of what people may call “situational ethics” in the workplace. Stealing is wrong, but not in every case. Hard work is right but not required in every instance. Integrity is a quid pro quo arrangement owed to someone worthy of integrity…and that someone is always the Lord, not the person we are dealing with.

What might the world, our workplace, and our worship space look like if we approached our every decision as directly responsive to and accountable before God? What if every assignment were seen as divinely orchestrated? What if our actions and reactions were viewed as those of an ambassador rather than an autonomous actor?

Two things that decades of senior leadership have taught me: First, I have not gotten it right nearly enough. As a leader, I have sometimes been impetuous, self-absorbed, and focused on the wrong measures of success. Second, God has never given up on me. Sure, others have. Some others have seen an opportunity for a quick fix (like Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery or those who profited from Joseph’s gift and life). Yet, God has always been faithful, and some of the most significant and impactful lessons have been learned in the dry cisterns of the wilderness, the oppressive environments of Egypt’s jails, or at the receiving end of false accusers who didn’t get their way and acted emotionally in their accusations. Sometimes, the refining fire of God cannot be experienced well except in the most difficult of circumstances. That’s where God forges leaders. Leaders who God uses to provide for His people as well as those who contributed to the leader’s suffering. So, leader…if you’re suffering, know that God can work in it, has assigned you to it, and will walk you through it…. for “What man intends for evil, the Lord uses for good.” (Genesis 45:5-8, Genesis 50:20.)