Joseph
and His Soul of Many Colors
By
Nita K Curry
November 20, 2000
“It is a great
story of jealousies, lies, separation and eventual reconciliation.
Yet, it isn’t these characteristics that make this story one of my
favorites. It is the story of a man
who was completely human.”
In
all reality he probably deserved everything that came to him.
I can see him now, taunting his older brothers, slicing the psychic knife
into his brothers that he was the favorite son; spending time with dad just
enough to keep him from ever liking the other brothers more than him.
What he didn’t understand was that he was the favorite largely due to
his father’s love for Rachel, his mother.
Those types of underlying emotions are noticed and noted, but never
really understood by children until years later.
Joseph was probably too busy being the favorite to care about why he was
the favorite. It probably wasn’t until later when the older brothers began to
argue their view of their father’s love for them and their mother that this
realization came to him.
Hurts
lie so deep in families, and the family of Jacob and his wives were no
different. Maybe a little different
because the older brothers finally had enough of Joseph when he began telling
them about some ridiculous dreams he had. It
wasn’t until then that their incessant jealousies took over, and they began to
plot against him. Luckily for
Joseph, he was only sold into slavery.
We
always look at Joseph with such awe and admiration for standing firm under fire
during perilous times in his life, but I believe that Joseph, for all his godly
attributes was only too human. Growing
up, his father and his father’s God had always preferred him, so his efforts
at maturity were minimal.
Once
he arrived in Egypt he became a part of Potipher’s house.
My guess is that it wasn’t so much Joseph’s wonderful attitude that
eventually gave him such an esteemed position in Potiphar’s house, but it was
the amazing self-confidence that Joseph exuded in his presence.
Don’t forget that this showoff characteristic is common among youngest
siblings (Benjamin arrived well after Joseph). Joseph’s self-confidence must
have been honed to perfection under the favoritism of his father, but it was
that same self-confidence that kept getting him into trouble.
The
situation with Potiphar’s wife can be looked at as innocence trapped, but it
was probably a young man who was so flattered by the attention of the boss’s
lonely wife (yet another fan!) that he didn’t realize until too late that her
intentions were poisonous. Soon he was in prison.
It
was in prison that Joseph was able to stop and think. It was at this time in his life that he realized what a brat
he had been. His prison stay was most likely when his conscience overcame his
upbringing and he became a godly man. Yahweh
was no longer his father’s God, he had become Joseph’s God.
Invariably,
prison, age and experience greatly matured Joseph. His good spirit became an excellent spirit and his walk with
God began to have a confidence to it that had never been there before prison.
This confidence is in evidence when he was asked to interpret the dreams
of the chief butler and chief baker; he neither faltered nor hesitated to
deliver. “And
Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it.” (Genesis
40:12) Prison had been what Joseph
needed to become the man God needed. And
his dependence was on God and his confidence of God. . .it became his ticket out
and into Pharaoh’s favor.
When
famine eventually hits, his long lost brothers at last arrive to buy grain.
Joseph eventually and compassionately embraces them with open arms and envelops
them into his life.
So
often we focus on the thankful brothers instead of the humbled Joseph. He had
many flaws that kept getting him into trouble, yet when it came down to the
ultimate meeting with his brothers, his true character emerged.
No longer was he the spoiled favorite son showing up his brothers. No
longer was he the cocky “I’ve got the world by its tail” kind of kid. He,
in all his humility, realized that in spite of his humanness and his many faults and mistakes, God had
chosen him to not only save his
family, but an entire nation. This is why he cried when he embraced them.
This
story is beautiful and memorable because of his broken-ness at the point of
reconciliation.
When
I think about God and His goodness and realize that regardless of my human
frailness, God chose me, He gave me
salvation and He encircled me into His plan.
It still amazes me that God loves me this much.
Joseph is a beautiful story that illustrates just how far God will go to
save those He loves.
As
God’s chosen ones, we should never exude a spirit of self-righteousness or
attitudes that remotely infer that we are worthy of His mercy. We, like Joseph,
should continually come before Him with broken-ness. It is this type of broken-ness that heals the deepest of
wounds and saves nations. It’s a
story I must always relearn and never forget.
ninetyandnine.com
ã
2000, Nita K. Curry
---------
Nita
K. Curry lives in Missouri and when not trying to figure out how to
rearrange the furniture, she enjoys chasing after a little 2 ½ year old that
she absolutely adores.
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