You Can’t Change What Happened, But… | Steven Furtick
How Decisions Shape Our Future: Lessons from Joseph
The more we separate events from our decisions, the more space we allow God to work in our circumstances. Let’s go deeper into this concept. Consider this: traffic is an event. The time you leave your house is a decision. Many people blame traffic as if it’s an unexpected obstacle—like the parting of the Red Sea—as if they didn’t already know it would be there. The truth is, traffic is always there. If you repeatedly hit the snooze button and leave at the last minute, you’re making a choice that directly affects your experience on the road.
Choosing to leave early can influence your decision to stay calm instead of giving in to road rage. We need to stop blaming external circumstances and start making the right choices within those circumstances. Joseph from the Bible is a powerful example of this principle.
Stop Blaming Events, Start Making Decisions
Life is filled with events we can’t control, but our decisions within those moments define our future. Joseph faced many hardships—his brothers sold him into slavery, and he was wrongfully imprisoned—but he remained faithful and made wise decisions. If he had chosen to focus on unfair treatment and given up, he would have never reached the position God had prepared for him.
Many people describe Joseph’s story as going from the pit to the palace. While that’s true in a geographical sense, the real transformation was deeper. Joseph’s journey wasn’t just about promotion—it was about moving from status to service and from pain to purpose. God took him from a favored son to a servant, and eventually to a leader who saved an entire nation from famine.
