Someone you may have heard of
Joseph. Joey. Joe. Jose.
From the Hebrew, Yosef, meaning "shall be added."
Eleventh son of Jacob.
First son of Rachel.
I keep coming back to this story in my reading. I'm sure you know it. "The Guy with the Fruity Coat, and whatnot."
For those who don't, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob. Any parent of several kids will tell you not to play favorites. This is why. Joseph was a good son, and a good brother. He was a righteous guy. He had these dreams that seemed to mean that he would be in charge of them all one day. His brothers didn't like that very much, so they threw him in a pit and sold him off to some Egyptians as a slave.
At that point he could have cursed God and given up, but he didn't. He was righteous, even as a slave. Everything he was asked to do, he did well, and everything he had a hand in flourished. His owner, Potiphar, noticed this and put him in charge of his entire estate. And he told Joseph that he could help himself to anything Potiphar owned, except for his wife. This was just fine with Joe.
But Potiphar's wife was quite smitten with this handsome young Hebrew. She tried to get him to sleep with her, but he refused and ran out, leaving his clothes in her room. She was so distraught from being rejected by a slave, that she claimed Joseph raped her and used his left-behind clothing as proof (this being the first example in the Bible of a scorned cold-hearted ho seeking revenge). Joseph denied this by swearing on his God, but it was a slave's word against the master's wife's. What are you gonna do? The law said he was supposed to be executed for his "crime," but Potiphar knew Joseph would never swear to his God unless he were telling the truth, so he had mercy on him and threw his ass in jail.
Again, a perfect opportunity to give God the finger and sink into a depressive funk. He's in jail for a crime he didn't commit after being sold into slavery by his own flesh and blood. But amazingly, he stays faithful. He gets bummed, yes. But he doesn't turn God away. And the jailkeeper grows to trust Joseph so much, that he puts him in charge of the other prisoners. It is then that he met two guys, the Pharaoh's former butler and baker, who had both had strange dreams that they didn't understand, because back then dreams were like horoscopes and they predicted your future, but in a really vague, ambiguous way. Joseph interpreted their dreams for them; he told them that in three days, the butler would get his old job back while the baker would be hanged. And it happened.
So when the Pharaoh had a few crazy dreams, the butler told him about a Hebrew in prison who had interpreted his own dream correctly. The Pharaoh had Joseph brought in, explained his dreams, and then Joseph told him that his dreams meant that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. So he suggested that Pharaoh should start gathering the extra grain and saving it so that when the famine came, they would be prepared.
Pharaoh was so happy to find someone so clearly blessed and talented, that he put Joseph in charge of the whole grain storage project. Joseph became the Pharaoh's right-hand-man, in charge of everything and everyone save for the Pharaoh himself.
What's my point? What do I get from this story?
To put it plainly... it's not about me. Not the story; I mean this life. This world is not about me. There are things going on that are a lot greater than my current situation. And if I can't change my current situation, why sulk? Think about it. If Joseph had sulked while he was a slave, he would have never been put in charge. If he'd cursed God and become absorbed in his own misery and bad fortune while he was in prison, he would never have been placed as a prison authority, which means he never would have met the butler, which means he never would have been called before Pharaoh. All these things had a purpose, and in fact they were crucial to the final outcome.
I like this idea, even if it's a tough concept to adhere to. I hate this place. I hate so much about it, that at times I'm tempted to yell at God for putting me here. But at what point do you stop to ask yourself, why? There's got to be more to it. There's got to be something here that I have to do, before moving on. Or maybe in order to move on. Or maybe if I just work my little ass off while I'm here, things will just happen. I don't know. I'm lucky enough to know what my future holds. I just wish I could get there already.
I hate thermodynamics.
From the Hebrew, Yosef, meaning "shall be added."
Eleventh son of Jacob.
First son of Rachel.
I keep coming back to this story in my reading. I'm sure you know it. "The Guy with the Fruity Coat, and whatnot."
For those who don't, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob. Any parent of several kids will tell you not to play favorites. This is why. Joseph was a good son, and a good brother. He was a righteous guy. He had these dreams that seemed to mean that he would be in charge of them all one day. His brothers didn't like that very much, so they threw him in a pit and sold him off to some Egyptians as a slave.
At that point he could have cursed God and given up, but he didn't. He was righteous, even as a slave. Everything he was asked to do, he did well, and everything he had a hand in flourished. His owner, Potiphar, noticed this and put him in charge of his entire estate. And he told Joseph that he could help himself to anything Potiphar owned, except for his wife. This was just fine with Joe.
But Potiphar's wife was quite smitten with this handsome young Hebrew. She tried to get him to sleep with her, but he refused and ran out, leaving his clothes in her room. She was so distraught from being rejected by a slave, that she claimed Joseph raped her and used his left-behind clothing as proof (this being the first example in the Bible of a scorned cold-hearted ho seeking revenge). Joseph denied this by swearing on his God, but it was a slave's word against the master's wife's. What are you gonna do? The law said he was supposed to be executed for his "crime," but Potiphar knew Joseph would never swear to his God unless he were telling the truth, so he had mercy on him and threw his ass in jail.
Again, a perfect opportunity to give God the finger and sink into a depressive funk. He's in jail for a crime he didn't commit after being sold into slavery by his own flesh and blood. But amazingly, he stays faithful. He gets bummed, yes. But he doesn't turn God away. And the jailkeeper grows to trust Joseph so much, that he puts him in charge of the other prisoners. It is then that he met two guys, the Pharaoh's former butler and baker, who had both had strange dreams that they didn't understand, because back then dreams were like horoscopes and they predicted your future, but in a really vague, ambiguous way. Joseph interpreted their dreams for them; he told them that in three days, the butler would get his old job back while the baker would be hanged. And it happened.
So when the Pharaoh had a few crazy dreams, the butler told him about a Hebrew in prison who had interpreted his own dream correctly. The Pharaoh had Joseph brought in, explained his dreams, and then Joseph told him that his dreams meant that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. So he suggested that Pharaoh should start gathering the extra grain and saving it so that when the famine came, they would be prepared.
Pharaoh was so happy to find someone so clearly blessed and talented, that he put Joseph in charge of the whole grain storage project. Joseph became the Pharaoh's right-hand-man, in charge of everything and everyone save for the Pharaoh himself.
What's my point? What do I get from this story?
To put it plainly... it's not about me. Not the story; I mean this life. This world is not about me. There are things going on that are a lot greater than my current situation. And if I can't change my current situation, why sulk? Think about it. If Joseph had sulked while he was a slave, he would have never been put in charge. If he'd cursed God and become absorbed in his own misery and bad fortune while he was in prison, he would never have been placed as a prison authority, which means he never would have met the butler, which means he never would have been called before Pharaoh. All these things had a purpose, and in fact they were crucial to the final outcome.
I like this idea, even if it's a tough concept to adhere to. I hate this place. I hate so much about it, that at times I'm tempted to yell at God for putting me here. But at what point do you stop to ask yourself, why? There's got to be more to it. There's got to be something here that I have to do, before moving on. Or maybe in order to move on. Or maybe if I just work my little ass off while I'm here, things will just happen. I don't know. I'm lucky enough to know what my future holds. I just wish I could get there already.
I hate thermodynamics.