Ever been in a pit?
Joseph was once in a pit … actually it was a well, but really, once you are in one what it is called does not matter anymore. It is dark, cold, full of creepy crawlies, and you’re alone.
Joseph had been thrown into the well by a band of angry thugs … his brothers.
Ever felt thrown into a well by someone you loved?
He was just a young man, the eldest of his mother, Rachel, the pride and joy of his father Jacob (Israel). Joseph had done nothing to deserve such a violent act of thoughtless sibling abandonment.
Ever felt that you were an innocent victim?
He was a good son, followed all the rules, even reported to his father when his older half-brothers were not. He had won his father’s favor, simply by being the firstborn of Jacob’s beloved Rachel.
Ever felt like you were being punished for the heartache of another?
He was a dreamer. Joseph dreamed of things to come, dreams that made the eyes of his brother roll, and confirm their ire for he and his superiority complex.
Ever feel like who you are created to be pushed you into the pit you are in?
Did Joseph’s rule following help him in the dampness of the pit?
Where were Joseph’s grand dreams when he looked up from the darkness he had been thrown into?
Where was Joseph’s protective and loving father, as he realized he was being hoisted out, not to end a cruel joke, but because his very own brothers sold him into slavery?
Sometimes, like Joseph, stuff happens in our life and we feel as though we have been thrown into a pit. Sometimes, having the best of intentions, the best of behaviors, the joy of being loved by family and friends, the greatest of gifts and abilities, are not the insurance of being able to live our lives in the light that we might have hoped that they would be.
Sometimes, we fall into the pit.
Sometimes, we are pushed.
Sometimes, the extended hand that lifts us out, is one that lands us in slavery.
That can all be rather dire.
But Joseph was never alone, not in that pit, not as a slave, not in an Egyptian prison.
God was there, and God’s stories are always centered around the theme of redemption, re-making, renewing.
After Joseph had provided opportunity for his brothers to prove that they had changed, after he was reunited with his father, Jacob, and after his father had died and was buried, redemption came for Joseph’s brothers.
Genesis 50:20 tells us that Joseph said to his brothers, “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good …”
When we are in the pit we need to remember that we are not there alone, and we need to remember that God has a plan … for good to come from evil.
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itsawonderfilledlife 