It was my first job off the farm during the summer of my sophomore year of college. I was a “helper” on a Coca-Cola delivery truck in Shreveport, LA. I was assigned special duty to work at a busy grocery store that was running a big sale on Coca-Cola. It was at this store I learned people have agendas, and they will lie to get their way.

It began mid-morning one Friday when I asked the store manager if I should call the plant to bring more Cokes. I replied to the manager’s question of “why” with, “Since the sale has been extended an extra week you will run out of before Monday’s delivery.” BAM! I was not supposed to know this secret information. He took his complaint directly to the top folks at the plant.

A week later while I was cleaning up a mess one of the customers made from bumping into the drink display when the store manager walked up, puffed on his pipe, stared at me, and walked away. Within an hour my route driver came rushing back to the store along with the plant HR Manager and some other executives. The store manager wanted me fired and to be reimbursed for all the losses he accused me of causing. This was my first of many lessons about other people’s agendas and the lies they will tell. It was a Joseph-Principal experience.

You remember Joseph? In Genesis 37 we learn the power of jealousy that led his brothers to beat & throw him in the cistern, later to be sold into slavery. In Genesis 39 we find Joseph did such a wonderful job serving Potiphar, his owner, that Joseph was put in charge of his household. But when Joseph ran from the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife & her lies, he was thrown in prison. In Genesis 40 we find the two high officials of Pharaoh imprisoned & cared for by Joseph. The cupbearer either forgot or chose not to tell Pharaoh of Joseph’s care and his miraculous power to interrupt dreams. But Joseph still did not grumble or complain to, or about, God.

Two years later Pharaoh had a dream no one could interrupt. Then, the cupbearer imprisoned with Joseph, finally told Pharaoh about Joseph. What follows is something only God can orchestrate. Pharaoh calls for Joseph to be brought to him. After Joseph interrupts Pharaoh’s dream of 7 years abundance & 7 years famine, Pharaoh declares in Genesis 41:41, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Think about it. Joseph, hated by his brothers, in a dungeon because he chose to do right is now the second most powerful person in the world. But how? We find his secret later in Genesis 50:20 when he told the same brothers who wanted him dead, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Many years later my career would end much the same way34…someone’s agenda, laced in lies, that God turned into a Blessing. God is “THE” Promise Keeping God. He will never leave you. As King Jehoshaphat prayed, while facing the impossible, “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12.

Keep your eyes on Him.