God gave each of us an innate sense–an instinct–to react with fight or flight when faced with stress. My reaction is often flight. I tend to be like my movie hero, Forrest Gump, who stayed free of conflict by taking the advice of his only friend, Jenny. She said:
“Run, Forrest! Run!”
Don’t you wish we could outrun some of the bullies in today’s world?
When We Can’t Run
I’ve spent a lot of time with my real-life, biblical hero, Joseph, during the past two years and learned a lot about this fella who couldn’t run from bullies in his life.
In His Father’s Household
As Jacob’s favorite son, he was stuck between the father who openly (and awkwardly) showed favor and the brothers who hated him for it.
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” Genesis 37:3–4
In Egypt
His jealous brothers hated him so much they sold him as a slave to Midianite traders. They took him to Egypt, where Potiphar–Pharaoh’s captain of the guard–purchased him. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that even in Potiphar’s household, Joseph found himself once again stuck between the favor of man and someone who wished him harm–Potiphar’s wife.
“One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. [Potiphar’s wife] caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house…She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.'” Genesis 39:11–12, 16–18
Not Just a Physical Battle
The Scriptures above depict the obvious physical battles Joseph faced from some bullies in his life, but to understand the fullness of his spiritual battle, let’s do a little more digging.
Elohim manifested Himself to Joseph in dreams when Joseph was only seventeen years old. It might be tempting to think Joseph never had to choose to worship Elohim–never had other options.
I don’t believe that’s true. And it certainly wasn’t the case when he went to Egypt! Wouldn’t your faith be shaken if your siblings considered killing you and then betrayed you–sending you to a foreign place without any hope?
Joseph had some pretty significant reasons to question God in his life.
Pick a god, Any god
And Egypt had plenty of gods to choose from. However, let’s first talk about the pagan gods available to Joseph in his father’s camp!
In last week’s blog post, I wrote at at length about how Joseph was likely introduced to his mother Rachel’s pagan gods–the household gods she stole from her father, Laban. (CLICK HERE to read more.)
With a little math, we can assume Joseph and Dinah were likely close in age, so he was very aware of her rape and his brothers’ massacre on Shechem (Genesis 34). He would also have been aware of the foreign gods purged from Jacob’s camp thereafter (Genesis 35:2-5)–gods that had likely come from Terah’s/Abraham’s/Nahor’s/Laban’s homeland–the land of Ur, which is referred to as Ancient Mesopotamia. It was the cradle of civilization and where organized religion began.
In Hebrew culture, it was the mother who taught her children for the first five years of their lives. If Rachel stole her father’s household gods, do you suppose she taught Joseph about the Mesopotamian gods? Of course, she likely taught him of Elohim as well.
Joseph’s Pain as Preparation
I’m fifty-eight years old and still learning many life lessons. Here’s one learned again and again:
God never wastes my pain–if I’m watchful for how He wants to use it.
I see that same lesson repeated in Joseph’s life, and he becomes a master at using his pain to glorify the True and Living God.
Questioning the Pain
Remember those dreams Elohim gave Joseph while he lived in his father’s household? He also gave Joseph the ability to interpret them.
“Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ‘…We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.'” Genesis 37:5–7
How many times, while Joseph was slaving in Potiphar’s house or locked in prison, did Joseph question his dreams or the interpretations? How could his brothers bow to him while he was scrubbing floors?
I get the impression Joseph was a very intelligent guy. He would likely have remembered his mother’s gods from ancient Mesopotamia and couldn’t help but learn of Egypt’s gods. With an administrative mind like he most certainly had, he undoubtedly noticed the similarities and differences between the gods of these two cultures.
Joseph didn’t choose Elohim because he was ignorant of other gods. He chose Elohim because He was the only Living God.
A Matter of Focus
Eleven years after coming to Egypt, Joseph interpreted the cupbearer’s and baker’s dreams. We don’t know how long he’d been in prison, but when Pharaoh’s royal servants were released, Joseph begged them to mention his unjust imprisonment to the king.
They didn’t.
Did he question God? Maybe. But I rather think by this time, Joseph was more focused on the repeated favor he’d received from God–which extended to those around him–than his harsh circumstances.
“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.” Genesis 39:20–21
Living Free
Two full years AFTER he interpreted the royal servants’ dreams, the cupbearer finally remembered to mention Joseph to Pharaoh when the king himself had dreams no one else could decipher. THAT’S WHEN GOD SHOWED UP BIG-TIME!
“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.'” Genesis 41:39–40
Joseph was free from slavery and prison, but the naming of his sons also reveals his heart was free of fear, bitterness, resentment, or any other emotional or spiritual chain that could have so easily entangled him after all he’d been through:
“Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, ‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’ The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.'” Genesis 41:51–52
Today’s Freedom
How do we live free today in a world that’s filled with chaos, fear, and dissension? Perhaps you feel held captive to a job, relationship, physical illness, or other life circumstance that seems inescapable and hopeless.
There’s always hope for those who serve the Living God, my friends! As a review of the things I’ve learned from Joseph, let me encourage you with the simple but profound truths that have helped me face each day:
- God never wastes the pain. Look for ways that your struggles of the past have brought glory to God and good to your life or others (Romans 8:28).
- God is always good. Settle that single truth in your heart, and you’ll never need ask, “Why?” again. When you’re absolutely certain of His goodness, the why is always because He adores us.
- Focus on God’s favor. No matter how hard life becomes, there’s always something to praise God about. If we set our hearts on eternity–rather than the things of this earth–our whole perspective on what’s important changes.
Today’s Question:
- What one step can you do today that will lead to living free of old chains?
