We spend a significant part of our lives working. We build careers, manage businesses, meet targets, lead teams, solve problems, and carry responsibilities. Yet beneath all of this lies a deeper question: What is our work actually for? For many of us, work can gradually become reduced to salary, performance, promotion, or business growth. These …
We spend a significant part of our lives working. We build careers, manage businesses, meet targets, lead teams, solve problems, and carry responsibilities.
Yet beneath all of this lies a deeper question:
What is our work actually for?
For many of us, work can gradually become reduced to salary, performance, promotion, or business growth. These things matter, but when they become the sole measures of success, we can lose sight of something bigger.
The Bible offers us a different perspective on work—one that goes beyond what we earn or achieve and considers how we use what God has entrusted to us.
Work Is More Than Earning a Living
The story of Joseph invites us to consider whether work is about more than earning a salary or making a profit. God has uniquely equipped each of us with gifts, abilities, and capacities that can be used meaningfully in the marketplace.
Work allows us to meet human needs, serve others, and express our worship to God. It can also become a platform through which we demonstrate God’s love, provide for our families, support people in need, influence culture, and contribute to the flourishing of our communities.
This means the marketplace is not simply somewhere Christians spend Monday to Friday before returning to “spiritual life” on Sunday.
Our faith comes with us to work.
The way we lead, make decisions, treat people, handle responsibility, and use our abilities all become part of how we live out our faith.
Whether we are managing a team, serving customers, solving problems, building a business, or carrying out everyday responsibilities, our work provides opportunities to serve others and reflect the values we profess.
The question, then, is not only, “What can I gain from my work?” but also, “What has God entrusted to me here, and how can I use it faithfully?”
But What About When Work Becomes Difficult?
This is where Joseph’s story becomes especially relevant.
Joseph received dreams from God when he was young (Genesis 37). Yet the years that followed did not immediately resemble the future he might have imagined.
There was a pit.
Then slavery.
Then prison.
Only much later did Joseph find himself in a position of authority in Egypt.
His journey reminds us that receiving a promise or having a sense of purpose does not mean the path ahead will be straightforward. Along the way, Joseph faced injustice, disappointment, and circumstances beyond his control. Yet he continued to serve faithfully, including during his time in Potiphar’s household and in prison (Genesis 39).
This speaks to something many people experience in the marketplace.
Sometimes the workplace is difficult. There may be unhealthy competition, office politics, injustice, temptation, or pressure to compromise our values. We may wonder whether doing the right thing will cost us opportunities or put us at a disadvantage.
What does faithfulness look like when a colleague takes credit for our work, when a business decision pressures us to compromise our convictions, or when a promotion goes to someone else?
It may mean responding honestly, maintaining professional excellence, treating people fairly, and resisting the temptation to let disappointment turn into bitterness.
Joseph’s story does not suggest that faithfulness means ignoring difficult realities or pretending that injustice does not hurt. Rather, it shows us the importance of remaining faithful to God in the way we respond to those realities.
Our circumstances may influence us, but they do not have to define our character.
Integrity, diligence, humility, and dependence on God matter not only when things are going well, but also when we feel overlooked, mistreated, or uncertain about the future.
Waiting Is Part of the Journey
One of the most challenging parts of Joseph’s story is the waiting.
Years separated his dreams from his eventual appointment to leadership in Egypt. During that time, his circumstances changed repeatedly, but the outcome was not immediately visible.
That kind of waiting challenges our desire for control.
We want the answer now.
We want the promotion now.
We want the business breakthrough now.
We want to understand why a door has closed or why an opportunity has not arrived.
Yet the Bible presents waiting as more than simply passing time. The Hebrew word qavah is used in the context of waiting on the Lord, pointing to a posture of expectation and continued dependence on Him, even when the outcome is not yet clear.
This offers a different perspective on waiting in our working lives. Waiting does not mean putting our responsibilities on hold or accepting every situation without question. It means continuing to trust God while taking wise, faithful steps with what is within our control.
Perhaps you have been working toward a promotion that never seems to come. You may be putting in the effort without receiving recognition, developing a business while waiting for results, or trying to remain faithful in a workplace where the culture challenges your convictions.
In these seasons, it can be tempting to lose motivation, compare our progress with others, or compromise our values just to get ahead. We may even begin to question whether our efforts matter.
But waiting can still be a season of meaningful action. We can strengthen our skills, seek feedback, learn from experienced colleagues, serve our teams well, make wise decisions, and continue building relationships with integrity. We can also address unhealthy workplace conditions, seek appropriate support, or pursue new opportunities when necessary. Faithfulness does not require us to remain passive in circumstances that need to change.
Joseph continued to serve faithfully in different assignments, even though none of them initially looked like the position he would eventually hold. His story reminds us that we can remain responsible for today’s work without having the whole future figured out.
The season you’re in may be part of the preparation for what comes next.
This does not mean every setback will lead to a promotion or that every difficult season will end in the way we hope. Joseph’s story is not a guarantee of professional success. Rather, it reminds us that our faithfulness is not measured only by how quickly we advance, how much recognition we receive, or whether our plans unfold as expected.
Sometimes growth happens before a change in position. We learn to lead without a title, practise integrity when no one is watching, serve well without immediate recognition, and depend on God when our plans remain uncertain.
We may not know exactly how God will use our current circumstances, but we can still ask:
“What is God forming in me here, and how can I be faithful with the responsibilities I have today?”
From Pit to Purpose
Joseph eventually came to understand how his journey was connected to a purpose greater than himself. In Genesis 45:4–8, he recognised that God had used his circumstances to position him to preserve lives during a severe famine.
His story does not mean that every painful experience will be easy to explain or that we will always understand why certain things happen. It does, however, invite us to consider that our present circumstances may hold meaning beyond what we can currently see.
Sometimes God is doing a work in us before He does a work through us.
Joseph’s transition from prison to a position of authority happened quickly compared with the years that had preceded it. The opportunity arrived in a moment, but the journey leading up to it had involved years of serving, enduring, and responding to difficult circumstances.
The lesson is not that we should simply endure every situation without seeking help, addressing injustice, or pursuing a healthier opportunity. Rather, wherever we find ourselves, we can consider how to respond with wisdom, integrity, and faithfulness while trusting God with what remains beyond our control.
So, wherever you are today—building a business, managing a team, starting a career, navigating a difficult workplace, or waiting for a new opportunity—faithfulness still matters.
Your present assignment matters.
Your character matters.
How you treat people matters.
How you respond under pressure matters.
And your relationship with God matters.
Perhaps the question for this season is not simply:
“When will I get out of this?”
But also:
“Lord, what are You teaching me here, and how can I be faithful with what You have placed in my hands?”
The journey from pit to purpose may take longer than we expect. We may not see the full picture, and we may not know what the next season will bring.
But we do not have to understand the entire journey to take the next faithful step.
Reflection
Wherever you are in your marketplace journey, what would faithfulness look like this week?
At GBN Marketplace Ministry, we believe faith belongs in every part of our working lives. As you navigate your current assignment, consider how biblical principles can shape the way you work, lead, and serve—right where God has placed you today.
