Divine Favor in the Wilderness: Joseph, the Wisdom of Ubuntu, and God's Unseen Hand
By Harold Mawela
From my study in Akasia, Pretoria, I watch the red dust of the Highveld settle after a summer storm. The air smells of wet earth and promise. Here, in the beautiful, bewildering tension of modern South Africa—where soaring glass towers share a skyline with lines of hopeful job-seekers, and our national spirit of Ubuntu grapples with the harsh realities of load-shedding and corruption—I find myself pondering a timeless truth: the astonishing mechanics of Divine Favor.
You see, we South Africans understand struggle. We understand the pit. We know what it is to have dreams—for a better job, for safety, for a functioning municipality—that feel buried alive by circumstance. We rely on our giftedness, our mad skills, our hard-won education and street-smart savvy to dig our way out. And yet, so often, the door remains shut, the load-shedding schedule unchanged, the opportunity just out of reach. Why? Because we have confused the tool for the craftsman’s hand. Your talent is your spade, but favor is the Master’s hand that guides it to the right door, at the right time, and compels that door to swing open.
The Anatomy of a Divine Setup: Joseph’s Blueprint
Consider our brother Joseph. His story is not a spiritual fairy tale; it is a strategic, divine operational plan. A young man with a God-given dream is thrown into a pit by his own brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in a prison. Every human door slams shut. Yet, the Scripture whispers a profound truth: “The Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Genesis 39:21). Notice the pattern? In the pit, in Potiphar’s house, in the prison—favor preceded position. It was not his administrative genius that freed him (though he had it); it was God’s favor, moving through the heart of a prison warden, that created the platform for that genius to be seen.
This is the first pillar of divine favor: It flows through people to create platforms for purpose. Favor is relational currency. It softens hearts, opens ears, and turns adversaries into unwitting allies. When God’s favor is upon you, your Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer will remember you at the precise moment of global crisis. Your gift makes room for you, yes (Proverbs 18:16), but favor builds the palace that room resides in.
Confronting the Counterfeit: The Prosperity Gospel’s Pitfall
Here, from the African context, I must sound a prophetic alarm. We are surrounded by a dangerous counterfeit: the Prosperity Gospel’s perversion of favor. It teaches that favor is a product you purchase with a “seed faith” donation, a guaranteed return on investment measured in rands, luxury cars, and problem-free living. It reduces the sovereign, mysterious favor of God to a transactional vending machine. This is not biblical favor; it is spiritual consumerism, and it is laying waste to the faith of thousands.
It has created a Christianity focused on individualistic wealth accumulation, often at the expense of the communal Ubuntu spirit that says, “I am because we are.” This version of “favor” teaches believers to see a struggling neighbor not as a brother to lift up, but as someone lacking the faith to get their own blessing. It is a theology of extraction, not divine connection, and it leaves souls emptier than our public coffers.
True, biblical favor has a different character. It is not always safe, comfortable, or immediately prosperous. Joseph’s favor led him to a pit, a slave market, and a prison before it led him to a palace. Its primary goal is not your comfort, but God’s purpose and the liberation of others. “When God’s favor is upon you, even the opposition will finance your destiny.” The brothers financed Joseph’s trip to Egypt. Potiphar’s wife financed his credibility in prison. The opposition became the unwitting underwriters of God’s plan.
A Logical Defense: The Syllogism of Sovereign Favor
To the skeptic who says, “This is just luck dressed up in religious language,” let us reason together. Let us define our terms clearly.
· Premise 1: The God of Scripture is sovereign, omnipotent, and purpose-driven.
· Premise 2: This God intimately knows and orchestrates the lives of individuals for a grand, redemptive narrative (Romans 8:28).
· Premise 3: Human talent and circumstance are finite and subject to chaos, yet history reveals inexplicable convergences that advance good and purpose.
· Conclusion: Therefore, the consistent, purposeful alignment of people, platforms, and timing in the lives of surrendered individuals points not to random luck, but to the active, favorable orchestration of a sovereign God. It is intelligent design applied to human destiny.
A common objection is that this diminishes human agency. However, this fails because divine favor does not bypass human responsibility; it empowers and directs it. Joseph still had to interpret dreams well. He still had to manage Potiphar’s house with excellence. Favor provided the stage; his faithfulness performed the play.
The African Heart of Divine Philosophy
We must root this not in Western thought, but in the deep, rich soil of our own heritage. Long before colonizers arrived, Africa was a cradle of Christian thought. Giants like Augustine of Hippo (from modern-day Algeria) wrestled with grace and sovereignty. The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8) was one of the first Gentile converts, returning to Africa with the gospel. Our faith is not a white man’s import; it is an ancient homecoming. The Hebraic worldview of the Bible—communal, practical, oriented toward wisdom and right living—resonates deeply with our African concept of Ubuntu. Biblical philosophy is not abstract Greek debate; it is the wisdom for living well in community, under God. This is our heritage.
A Personal Story from Akasia: The Favour of a Flat Tire
Let me bring this home. Years ago, as a young pastor and musician, I was driving to a crucial meeting in Midrand—a potential breakthrough for our ministry. On the N1, my car’s tire blew. Stranded, hot, and frustrated, I saw my “divine moment” turning to dust. As I struggled with the jack, a man in a worn-out reflector jacket stopped to help. His hands, skilled and swift, had the spare on in minutes. We talked. He was a contractor, his business collapsing, his hope fading. He asked what I did. “I speak about hope,” I said. Right there on the highway’s gravel shoulder, I prayed for him. We exchanged numbers.
Two weeks later, he called. “That prayer,” he said, voice thick. “It did something. I got a call for a job.” But then he said, “I also told the foreman about you. They need someone to speak to the team next month.” That contractor’s failed business led to my introduction to a major construction firm. My flat tire—my pit—became a divine appointment. My gift was preaching, but favor was the Master’s hand that orchestrated a breakdown to engineer a breakthrough. The opposition (a broken car, lost time) financed a new connection.
The Call: Positioning Yourself for the Unseen Hand
So, how do we position ourselves for this kind of favor? It is not about manipulating God. It is about posturing your life.
1. Cultivate Radical Faithfulness Where You Are. Be the best prisoner in the prison, like Joseph. Do your job, raise your children, serve in your church with excellence, as unto the Lord. Favor finds faithful hands.
2. Release the Need to Understand the Process. The path of favor is often illogical. Trust the navigation of the One who sees the whole map.
3. Serve Others’ Destinies. Favor is not a solo flight. As you help others toward their purpose, you align yourself with God’s flow. Ubuntu is a spiritual principle: as you bless the “we,” you find the “I” is blessed.
4. Anchor in Humility, Not Entitlement. Favor humbles because you know you did not earn it. It is a gift. This protects you from the pride that makes God resist you (James 4:6).
Conclusion: Your Wilderness is a Workshop
Look at your life, your South Africa. The load-shedding darkness, the unemployment line, the seeming delay—this is not your pit of doom. It is your wilderness workshop. It is where God is detaching you from trust in your own giftedness alone and teaching you to depend on His unseen hand. Your talent got you here, but only His favor will get you there—to the place where your life feeds a nation, forgives a brother, and fulfills a promise made before you were born.
Never confuse your skill with His seal of approval. Your skill is your offering. His favor is the fire that falls from heaven to consume it, signalling that He is with you. In this truth, be comforted. In its counterfeits, be convicted. And in its sovereign, surprising logic, be utterly confident.
He is with you in the pit. And He knows the way to the palace.
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