This
week I read from Genesis 34 – 40, Psalms 34 – 40, and Judges 10 – 16. The story of Joseph, which starts in Genesis
37, has long been one of my favorites in the Bible. No one, other than Jesus, underwent more
unfair, difficult treatment or circumstances in the Bible in my opinion. Here are some of the salient sections of my
reading this week …
Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children
because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a
special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers
hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They
couldn’t say a kind word to him. One
night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated
him more than ever. “Listen to
this dream,” he said. “We were
out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles
all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”
His brothers responded,
“So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will
reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the
way he talked about them. Genesis
37:3-8
Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by
killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to
those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and
blood!” And his brothers agreed. So
when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers
pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver.
And the traders took him to Egypt. Genesis
37:26-28
She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but
he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around
when he went in to do his work. She
came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph
tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. When she saw that she was holding his cloak
and he had fled, she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running.
“Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools
of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream, he ran outside
and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.” She kept the cloak with her until her husband
came home. Then she told him her
story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and
fool around with me,” she said. “But
when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!” Genesis 39:10-15
So
let’s take stock a little bit of Joseph’s plight. First, while not totally undeserved because
of his arrogance, Joseph earns the ire of his brothers to the point where for a
time they decide to kill him. I’ve made
my sister mad over our childhood years, and vice versa, but to my knowledge
never to the extent of wanting to kill one another (though, you could check
with our folks as they might have a different impression … LOL). While he avoids his brothers actually carrying
out brutality to the point of his death, they nonetheless decide to sell him
off for 20 pieces of silver. He gets
sold to some Ishmaelites and taken away to a foreign land. He then gets sold to one of the most powerful
men in Egypt, as a slave. EGYPT! The land where they HATED Israelites, refusing to even share a meal with them. Later, his
slavemaster’s wife tries to seduce him, he does everything he can to avoid it
including running away, but because he left his cloak behind she was able to
frame him for something he didn’t do.
This lands him in prison. Prison!
Think
about this … Joseph really did nothing to deserve any of this. Yet here he was, in prison in a foreign
country. You couldn’t paint a portrait
of worse circumstances.
How
did Joseph respond to his situation?
Let’s look …
The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything
he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Genesis 39:2
In this
situation, and in a number of other ones, Joseph rises above his
circumstances. He embraces the
situation. He performs in an exemplary
way … so much so that he continually is promoted into positions that declare
him to be the most trusted person in his roles.
How? Simple. Joseph trusted God (you’ll have to skip ahead
to Genesis chapter 50 … or just trust me).
Joseph KNEW God was at work in the midst of the crazy
circumstances. Even under incredible pressure,
in the worst of surroundings, in the scariest of situations, Joseph remained
focused on God, and God’s will through it all.
I have to admit, I don’t always respond well to insignificant problems;
little issues can sometimes set me off.
No doubt, bigger ones can really pin us to the ground; they can throw us
in a tizzy, taking our focus off of the fact that God is at work, not by
happenstance, but by purposeful design and intentionality.
When
I was a kid, on weekends at times we would buy donuts for breakfast. I used to LOVE the smell of the donut
shop. But I REALLY LOVED the taste of
the custard-filled donuts. The problem
was, those looked a lot like the jelly-filled donuts, and I didn’t like those
as much. In order to figure out what the
real custard-filled donut was, I’d have to squeeze the donut. Whatever leaked out gave me the reality of
what was inside. The best way to figure
it out was to put enough pressure on the donut in squeezing it … and see what
came out. And only what was really inside
could come out.
And
so it is with us. We see what is really
inside of us when we’re squeezed. The
best way to observe what someone is … or we are … made of is to observe what
we’re like under real pressure. Perhaps
that’s what God is up to sometimes in these circumstances. I’m not sure.
What I do know is that God has our best interests at heart (again, see
Genesis 50:20, skipping ahead a wee bit).
But put the squeeze to us, and you’ll see exactly what we’re made of
inside.
Just
like the donut, the only thing that can come out is what’s really inside. That’s the secret to Joseph’s situation … he
was able to trust God because, well, he trusted God. He had placed his love and reverence of God
and reliance on His promises deeply enough inside his core that what came out
under pressure was the love and reverence of God. Which holds the secret for us … what we have
inside is key … because that’s what come leaking out when we’re squeezed. If we’ve pumped ourselves up with God’s word,
His promises, our relationship with Him, then when we’re squeezed all those
will come out. If instead we’ve filled
ourselves with fear, arrogance, selfishness, etc., then those will ooze from us
when the pressure is applied.
There’s
the emphasis for this week … because one thing we can be sure of in this life
is the pressure and the squeezing WILL occur.
It’s just a matter of when, not whether.
So, what will ooze from us?
Let’s
prayerfully resign ourselves this week to make sure we’re filling ourselves
with the good stuff … God’s word, prayer, memorizing scripture, recognition of
the promises He makes to us, His Holy Spirit residing IN us … rather than the
bad stuff that can tend to falter when the pressure’s on. Let’s really ask God to challenge us to think
honestly about whether it’s the custard or the jelly that’s going to squeeze
out of us when the time comes.
Praying
for the custard in all of us!!! 8-)
God’s
blessings,
MR
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