Blessing or curse?

Another LinkedIn Group Discussion

Topic:  How would Joseph know he is not cursed?

Guy Morrell-Stinson
TheChurch.Today | ThriveWorldExpo.com | WhitefieldsInstitute.com | Leaders-Worldwide.com | Soul-fractures.com
This question has to do with being cursed. 

Consider Joseph, versus God's promises to be 'good' to one who follows Him. I assume, from what I read about Joseph, that he was a righteous man. Yet, his life appeared to be cursed. He constantly does the right thing, but is constantly betrayed, lied to, abused, let down by friends, and imprisoned, etc. We know the rest of the story.

So my question has to do with modern-day disciples who seeks the Lord with all their heart. They daily seek to be right with God, and yet finds their lives 'cursed.' How do such people know if they are on the right track with God, or actually deceived and in reality cursed? Not all 'Joseph' -like stories have a great ending. (Consider Matthew 7:20-23).

Insights?

Reading the beatitudes from a contemporary translation (Common English Bible) from Matthew 5 provides at least 1/2 the answer: 
3 "Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 
4 “Happy are people who grieve, because they will be made glad. 
10 “Happy are people whose lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 
11 “Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. 
12 Be full of joy and be glad, because you have a great reward in heaven. In the same way, people harassed the prophets who came before you. 
Any of the 4 groupings of people Jesus identifies as 'blessed' or 'happy' - we would be inclined to call cursed. 

The other 1/2 has to do with our predisposition to link blessing with power, wealth and fame - none of which matter as far as Jesus is concerned. 
Jesus pronounces 'woe' on those we think of as blessed (from Luke 4): 
24 But how terrible for you who are rich, 
because you have already received your comfort. 
25 How terrible for you who have plenty now, 
because you will be hungry. 
How terrible for you who laugh now, 
because you will mourn and weep. 
26 How terrible for you when all speak well of you. 
Their ancestors did the same things to the false prophets. 
From Jesus' perspective: wealth, privilege, affluence and political influence are more curse than blessing, more deceptive than real, and more likely to mislead than direct us to the truth.