Character: Circumstance Success Versus Character Success

The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.

Genesis 39:2

Do you long for the hand of the Lord to prosper you? Does your soul cry out to God for success? Are you baffled by the apparent failure of your circumstances?

The Bible records that God touched many heroes of our faith with success—men like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, and Nehemiah. Yet each of these men met with adversities that strained and tested the outer limits of his faith.

Before the Lord prospered Joseph, his brothers severed him from his father and sold him as a slave. After the Lord prospered Joseph in Egypt, he was thrown into prison for a rape that never happened. Just exactly what kind of success is it, then, that Joseph and these other heroes attained? What prosperity does God have in mind?

As a young businessman, God prospered my work far beyond the level I ever desired. Then after fourteen years, He allowed most of it to be taken away. My greatest fear was that no one would like or respect me when my circumstances failed—that no one would love me if I failed. It never happened. Since then, many have told me the way I handled those business problems ministered to others going through similar hard times.

It is not circumstance failure which disqualifies you for the friendship, loyalty, and approval of others, but character failure. True enough, in the early stages of a circumstance failure, the masses will abandon you, but they were never really with you. But those who love you will stand with you in a surprising, refreshing way.

Later, after you have demonstrated that your character did not fail, people will actually be attracted to you. When your circumstances fail but your character succeeds, you become a model of hope for others. “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:3-5).

Why are men and women so devastated when their circumstances fail? Their self-esteem was linked to the success of their circumstances rather than the success of their character. We cannot control our circumstances, but we can control our character. To rely on circumstance success for our self-worth is an open invitation for God to crush that very thing into rubble.

The Fingerprints of God

When God desires to prosper you, He desires to prosper your character. When God prospers circumstantially, He always does so after character success. When your circumstances succeed and your character fails, God will check. His desire is for our identity to be in Him alone, and not in our circumstances. Any time God observes that your identity is wrapped up in the success of your circumstances, He will humble you.

One day a man shared a pattern of profound spiritual and character growth through which he was going. “Are you going through some hard times?” I asked.

He replied with a surprised look and said, “Why, yes. But what would make you ask that question?”

“Because the period of our greatest character success is often accompanied by the period of our greatest circumstance failure. All the props are knocked away. Christ is the only one left to lean on.”

The fingerprints of God are highly visible on the character of a man. When the hands of God knead our spiritual and moral character, He often causes our circumstances to fail. When we depend on our circumstances, the Holy Spirit is grieved. The Holy Spirit is our Guide, our Counselor, our Comforter, our Power. When we abandon Him, He never begs for us to return, rather He changes our circumstances. God is more interested in the success of our character than the success of our circumstances. Does this make sense?

Christ came to prosper you, but in character. He may prosper your circumstances, or He may not. Do not resist Him. “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:21).

Yet regardless of your circumstances, Christ will prosper your character if you will surrender to Him. Joseph led a life as close to a full surrender to God as any human being ever has, and God prospered his character. His circumstances continued to rise and fall, but Joseph found his identity in character success, not circumstance success.

Are you prospering in a material way, or have you been reduced to a pile of rubble? Know that circumstance success is not the goal of a prosperous life. If you succeed in character but fail in circumstances, you succeed overall. If you succeed in circumstances but fail in character, you fail overall. Are you ready to surrender both your character and your circumstances to Christ, who loved you and gave Himself for you?

I SURRENDER

Dear Christ, I confess that I have been measuring my success by my circumstances and not by my character. I have wanted You to prosper my circumstances and bless me in a material way. I now realize Your first priority for my life is character success, not circumstance success. I surrender my circumstances and my character to You right now as an act of faith, trusting You to take my life as a lump of clay and make it what You will. Amen.