Genesis 43&44

OK, nothing from 43, so straight onto 44. In this chapter, Joseph plants the silver cup on his brother to trick him. In verse 2 he tells his steward "Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain". What hit me reading this was how this plan was surely not from God, as it was deceitful. However, God still blessed him mightily. For me, it is evidence that being a follower of God (even one of Biblical proportions such as Joseph) does not mean you can't make mistakes and mess up; furthermore, it indicates that God can and will still bless you and bring his plans for you to fruition, even if you stray from doing what is right. Am I explaining this right?

I guess what I mean is this: I know my salvation is secure, no matter what - when I die I am going to heaven. However, I strive earnestly (calling on God's help) to live a God honouring life day to day. When I mess up, as we all inevitably do (and as Joseph is here), I often worry about the possible consequences of my mistakes bringing everything crashing down around me. I still don't fully have peace about God not only forgiving us, but protecting us from the possible worst case scenario consequences of our actions. For example, Joseph was out of line here, being deceitful and certainly not Godly, but God didn't bring his whole kingdom falling down around him. I think it probably has something to do with God looking at the heart, but I don't have any clear answer. Much of the Bible talks about the consequences of our sin, but if everything we did wrong was punished in a worse case scenario sort of way, surely no-one would live in victory? Perhaps it's the heart that counts: if you are trying to do the right thing and mess up, God forgives and covers you from getting into trouble? But then what happens when you stop doing something you know was wrong: will God protect you from the consequences of it? Let me try and think of a good example: I download films, which is illegal. Let's say I stop because I am convicted it was wrong: will God protect me from the consequences of the copyright owners finding and prosecuting me?

I wonder if it comes down to that scripture where we are told God will not let us go through more than we can handle, meaning we will be protected from the consequences if they would bring such despair on us we couldn't handle it? Or maybe God deals with us on a case by case basis? Final food for thought: can our prayers save us from God's planned 'punishment'? Plenty of times in the Old Testament we see people pleading with God and he hears them and seems to change his mind e.g. Abraham pleading for Sodom.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, I'm just still confused on this one: answers in the comments section!