Finding Maturity Through Life’s Trials: Lessons from Joseph’s Story

When life doesn’t match the promises we believe God has given us, we often find ourselves in a tension between what we expected and what we’re experiencing. This tension between promise and process is exactly where God does His most significant work in our lives.

What Does Biblical Perfection Really Mean?

When we hear the word “perfection” in a biblical context, many of us immediately feel uncomfortable. After all, who among us is perfect? But biblical perfection isn’t about living flawlessly or following a legalistic formula.

The Greek word for perfect in the New Testament is “teleos,” which means mature, fully developed, or brought to completion. God isn’t looking for moral robots who never make mistakes. He’s seeking hearts that are:

• Stable and steady
• Centered in Him
• Mature through experience

Think of the difference between a sapling and a 200-year-old oak tree. The sapling is smooth and unblemished, but easily shaken. The mature oak has weathered storms, bears scars, and has deep roots that keep it standing through hurricanes. That’s the kind of maturity God is developing in us.

How Does God Develop Maturity in Our Lives?

Joseph’s story provides a powerful illustration of how God builds maturity. His development didn’t happen during comfortable times in his father’s house. Instead, his maturity was forged through:

• Being thrown into a pit by his brothers
• Serving as a slave in Potiphar’s house
• Being falsely accused despite his integrity
• Spending years forgotten in prison

Many of us confuse striving for perfection with being perfected by God. One we try to do ourselves and inevitably fail; the other God accomplishes through our life experiences. The first approach leads to exhaustion and legalism; the second builds something eternal within us.

What Should We Do When Doing Right Leads to Suffering?

Joseph’s story takes a painful turn when, after resisting Potiphar’s wife’s advances and honoring God in secret, he ends up in prison. This is where many of us would hit a wall spiritually:

“I honored God. I obeyed. I did what was right. And now I’m in prison? What are you doing, God?”

When standing for truth gets you falsely accused, when your character costs you instead of rewarding you, it’s natural to question God. But this is precisely the refining fire where true faith is developed.

What we see in Joseph isn’t bitterness or self-pity, but quiet endurance and trust. He’s being perfected not externally but internally – in the substance of his character.

Why Does God Allow Suffering in Our Lives?

The writer of Lamentations gives us insight:

“For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.” (Lamentations 3:31-33)

God doesn’t bring difficulty because He enjoys it. His goal is always compassion. But that doesn’t mean He shields us from pain. Instead, He uses it intentionally to shape something inside us that couldn’t be formed any other way.

Through suffering, Joseph learned to:

• Stand for God without applause
• Trust God when obedience was costly
• Walk in righteousness even when it didn’t seem to pay off

This kind of faith can’t be developed through simply attending church once a week. It requires an all-in approach to following God.

How Can We Accept God’s Process When It Feels Cruel?

It’s one thing to understand intellectually that trials build maturity. It’s entirely different to submit to that process when you’re the one hurting – when you’re praying and nothing changes, when you’re doing everything right but still suffering.

Scripture doesn’t hide this struggle. Joseph, David, Paul, and even Jesus himself wrestled with accepting difficult circumstances. Yet they all came to the same place: a holy resignation to God’s will.

This isn’t weakness – it’s courageous surrender. It takes tremendous faith to say, “Your will be done” when that will includes suffering.

Hebrews 10:32-34 describes early Christians who “accepted with joy” when everything they owned was taken from them because “they knew there were better things waiting for them that would last forever.”

The key is not pretending that suffering doesn’t hurt. Rather, it’s recognizing that what we gain in Christ is greater than what we lose in the world.

What Happens When We See Christ as Our Greatest Treasure?

Most of us struggle with suffering not just because it’s painful, but because we believe God is taking something from us that we deserve – comfort, health, relationships, success, or happiness.

When we see these things as the prize, their loss feels unbearable. But when Christ becomes our treasure, losses become bearable – not easy, but bearable – because we’re not losing our foundation, hope, or future. We’re being drawn deeper into it.

God’s goal isn’t to give you an easy life. His goal is to give you eternal life with Him – a life with roots so deep, joy so real, and peace so anchored that the fiercest storms cannot knock you down.

Life Application

This week, I challenge you to stop fighting God’s process in your life and start trusting it as the pathway to something greater. Here are some questions to reflect on:

1. What difficult circumstance am I currently resisting that God might be using to mature me?

2. Am I more focused on getting out of my trial or on what God is trying to build in me through it?

3. What would it look like for me to surrender this situation to God with courage rather than resentment?

4. How might my perspective change if I viewed Christ as my greatest treasure rather than comfort or success?

Remember, you don’t reach maturity without going through the process. You don’t grow deep in easy seasons. Joseph’s story shows us that even when life is unfair, God still has an active hand shaping you into something that will last.

God isn’t working on your comfort; He’s working on your character. And that work begins when you stop clinging to your version of the story and trust God with His.