Speed. This word is one of the most commonly used word in our present times. The World is moving faster than ever before. The dawn of technological advancement has birthed the measure of speed to mean betterment and a lead. How fast things get done, how quick one can be at performing a task, how swift they may be at thinking the list is endless qualifies one as better. I cannot over emphasize the word speed and its importance. Today, words like Artificial Intelligence (AI) underpins the development, growth and qualification of the need and affirmation of speed.
A common saying comes to mind. You rush you crash. The World is in a hurry. Fact. A very big hurry. Slow is a bore. Speed is equaled to efficient today. Most people want here and now. They prefer to live in the moment. This has created a very big issue leading to superficiality and many failed attempts at true sustainable execution at things that last and stand the test of time.
Most, just like a speed governor is installed on a car for the sole purpose of regulating the speed limit one can drive at, our hearts have no speed governor to regulate our speed to avoid a crash, save self-control and restraint which indeed is a virtue that we all need.
Let me tell you a story of a man called Joseph son of Jacob in the bible. His story is underpinned in 13 solid chapters from Genesis 37-50.
Young, handsome, energetic and loved by his father; as a matter of fact, he was a favourite. A good dreamer. His father Jacob was a dreamer. I believe Joseph’s dreaming gift among all Jacob’s sons had been blessed to carry that mantle. The bible does not document anywhere else that any of Joseph’s brothers were gifted in dreams and visions interpretation. Aside from his dreams, Joseph was obedient to his father unlike his brothers who were more adventurous and aggressive. Joseph was also a gifted Entrepreneur. Everything he touched was blessed and the substance of the blessings was very evident.
Due to the fact that he was a favourite he was hated so much by his brothers. He shared some of his dreams with his family affirming that he was going to be a leader and this made him get hated the more.
Fast forward he is attacked and sold off as a slave to Egypt by his own brothers. In Egypt he is bought as a slave by a ruler named Portiphar. Joseph was a faithful servant and hard working. His new Boss in Egypt put him in charge of his household. As such, Portiphar his master’s, estate grew tremendously because of Joseph’s entrepreneurial prowess and faithfulness. Someone else was watching from a distance. Portiphar’s wife. She made several advances towards Joseph which he rejected until one day she grabbed him by force. As he fled from her, his garment was torn and left in her arms. This incident qualified the crumbs for a crown.
Pay attention here. Brother and Sister, you will be tested. Your character will be squeezed. On your walk of salvation, you will encounter challenges. Had Joseph given in to Portiphar’s wife passes, by no means would he have had a chance to rise to Egypt’s prime minister. Even if he was imprisoned after she screamed and falsely accused him of attempted rape, Joseph never imagined that in prison that was a part of the process God had prepared to train him to become a prime minister and a man who would save the entire world from a massive famine and the entire world would come to Egypt for relief.
Truth be told God’s methods at times can seem very upside down; yet they are straight and pointed. How so? In prison Joseph learnt seven leadership lessons;
- Vision Anchor- I believe vision in Joseph’s case is an understatement. The guy was an interpreter of dreams and visions. I always tell people humans don’t dream in text but rather in images. This gift gave Joseph the pedigree to see things before they even happened. Bad things to prepare for them and averting them. Good things to prepare to even get the best out of them.
- Integrity- No record is written where Joseph’s character was under question in prison. He was a very upright and straight and pointed person. Clean as a whistle as the adage says. In prison he practiced integrity. He was under watch. He was jailed for attempted rape. That implies he was on the list of capital offences. His Integrity was in question the day he entered the jail cells and so he had to prove to the prison authorities that he was indeed innocent. Integrity was his breath day and night.
- People management. He was later put in charge of the prison as a warden. Here he was learning how to lead.
- Rationing and effective resource utilization. It’s a known fact that in prison there it is where scarcity is birthed. Resources are meagre. Food is little. One has to be very good at rationing to ensure that each and every prisoner gets a portion. This skill he later used to ration and store up grain during the seven years of abundance in preparation for the dreadful seven years of famine to come.
- Credibility and public relations. There is no way the wine bearer and baker would have known that Joseph could interpret dreams and visions, if Joseph had not related well with other prisoners who indeed told the baker and wine bearer that he could interpret dreams. Reputation speaks for its self; the world is always watching. Note that it may be silent but always watching what you do in the light and in the dark.
- Humility and restraint- Even when the wine bearer was restored by Pharaoh after Joseph had interpreted his dream and told him that he would be reinstated, there is no record of Joseph going around prison ranting and raving that he had been cheated. His gift was a currency not for a wine bearer level, but a King. There is no record in the bible that after he made prime minister, that he sought revenge against Potiphar’s wife who had falsely accused him of rape.
- A great planner and executor- Planning is easier than execution. I have come across many people in my coaching endeavors that have very profoundly amazing plans but 97% of the people I have worked with fail at execution. Why is execution hard? It requires consistency and a high level of determination. Most start well but fail to continue and finish. They approach their plans as though they are ends forgetting that a plan is only as good as its executions. There is no definite end but rather a new target each day. A new goal each day and a new destination each day. Joseph was great at both and this he learnt in prison.
When he was ready and had learnt the above lessons and many more of course I have only pointed out seven lessons, God then sends a dreadful dream to Pharoah that was actually two in one. The dreams were two but one and the same message that the Pharaoh was very scared. The catch was each wise man, sorcerer and diviner was summoned for answers. No one could deliver. Until each and every one had had a chance at a solution and failed that’s when the wine bearer remembered Joseph. His time had come and this time a king was his audience.
His moment for the crown had arrived. He had fed on crumbs right after he was sold off by his brothers up until the time he was appointed by Pharaoh as a vizier/ VVIP (Very Very Important Person) and prime minister. He had paid his price in full and a weight of pain but the crown sat on his head well-earned and deserved. The valuable lessons Joseph had learnt in prison did not only get him the Job, but he also made history.
What crumbs are standing in your way but are preparing you for a crown? I sure have no idea and clue. God has mysterious ways of making things happen. All he calls us to do is obey him even when everything around us makes no sense. Truth be told, God’s ways most times defy logic and rationale, however they paint master pieces and anchor legacies.
Till next time.
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