Sovereign Grace

I came home really late last night, well, more like 1am after hanging out with my Bible study group. I am really thankful to God for this great group. It is really cool to be in a church, or Bible study group that you can desire to spend six hours with and not think much about it. We did a study on Genesis 39 led by Jim. It's amazing how much more you get out of a passage when you study it as a group and get different perspectives from it. Joseph was taken from being his father's favorite son to being thrown in a pit, to being a slave, to being put in charge of Potiphar's household, to being accused falsely by his master's wife, to being put in prison, to being put in charge of all the prisoners to being second only to Pharaoh. It is interesting to see how he was taken from highs and lows in his life and station, in all this he was still faithful to God, and always aware that God was with him. The phrase 'God was with him' appears several times in this passage which shows that it was not the fact that Joseph was smart, or skilled, or anything, that made him successful or be blessed. It was the fact that God was with him.
It is also interesting to see that as we read about his life, we can kind of track and see where God was leading him and what was going to be the final result. However, this is from our (the reader's) perspective. From Joseph's perspective, he had no idea what God was doing in his life. All he could see was the then, not the far off. I wonder what thoughts he must have had as his life went down and up. But, it is really encouraging to see how he trusted in the Lord one day at a time knowing that God saw the big picture and he just had to be faithful in the small picture. How did he do this? By being conscious of God's presence (knowing that any sin was a sin against God), doing his work diligently, fleeing from sin. I think about this and see just how much Joseph's life shows us how we should trust God in the little things, day by day, knowing that God is with us. We get so consumed a lot of times as to what God's will is for our lives trying to look at the really big picture and forget what God's revealed will is for our lives today. Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace...(2 Timothy 2:22) has been on my mind this past week as a daily calling that represents God's will for my life.
One of the things that was brought up last night was that obedience does not obligate God to bless us, in our human anticipation at least. Yes, Scripture does give precedence that God blesses us when we are obedient. However, we do not, and cannot define what this blessing will be (financial or otherwise). Would I be content if I was Joseph and never got to be second only to Pharaoh, but spent the rest of my life in prison trusting that God was still with me? Am I content with not knowing God's secret will (as Joseph) but show how I am trusting Him by following His revealed will daily?