Joseph arrived in Egypt as a slave—the bottom of the pecking order. He rose over time to become overseer of Potiphar’s house. Potiphar trusted Joseph so much that “he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat” (Genesis 39:6).
Through the treachery of Potiphar’s wife, he was thrown into prison, but once again, he rose:
And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
Genesis 39:22-23
There is a pattern here. You can put Joseph in challenging circumstances, but you can’t keep him from earning his leaders’ trust. The author of Genesis attributes Joseph’s success in both environments to his relationship with God:
His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Genesis 39:3
The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
Genesis 39:23
God did this not only for Joseph’s benefit, but to save his family. (See Genesis 45:4-8.) Still, Joseph’s character must have played a role. If Potiphar and the jailer both learned to trust Joseph so completely that they no longer had to micromanage him (or even macro-manage him, apparently), he must have had a track record of always following through, never leaving anything undone or poorly done.
King Lamoni saw the same quality in Ammon, who had only recently begun to work for him. After a miraculous experience, while Lamoni marveled at what Ammon had been able to accomplish, Ammon simply got to work on his next task. King Lamoni said, “Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them” (Alma 18:10).
It might seem like a small thing to remember what your leader has asked you to do and to complete the task as well as possible, but that is how we build trust. We make and keep commitments repeatedly, until people become convinced that we are reliable.
No wonder God invites us to make covenants with Him. Every covenant is an opportunity to build trust. Of course we aren’t perfect, but if we want to have a strong relationship with God, we ought to be committed to making promises to Him and then following through conscientiously on those promises.
Elder Richard G. Maynes taught:
Earning the Lord’s trust comes as a result of being true to the covenants we have made in the waters of baptism and in the holy temple. When we keep our promises to the Lord, His trust in us grows.
“Earning the Trust of the Lord and Your Family,” October 2017 general conference
God loves all of His children. He is patient with us and willing to give us opportunities to change. He doesn’t stop loving us when we make mistakes or fall short. But He wants to help us become people of integrity, people who can be trusted. And because we love Him and want to have strong relationships with Him, we work hard to build His trust.
Today, I will strive to be trustworthy. I will follow through on the commitments I make to other people and on the covenants I have made with God.
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