The Pit of Destruction or the Palace of Praise

What is going on with your life at this moment in time? Are you going through trials that seem to never ease up? Does it seem like you’ve been suffering forever? Do you have health issues? Are you in lots of physical pain that never seem to stop? Are you in a financial bind? Are bills coming in 10 times faster than the paychecks are? Does it seem like you’ll never catch up? Are you borrowing from Peter to pay Paul? How about emotional sickness? I know some suffer from situations like depression, bi-polar, chemical imbalances that they can never seem to escape from regardless of the prayer, the time alone with God, etc.

Joseph was a young man of 17 & he came from quite the dysfunctional family. His grandpa tricked his daddy into marrying his aunt when he was supposed to be marrying his mama after working for her for 7 years. He then had to work another 7 years for his mama. So, now, he had 2 mamas kinda. Oh, but wait, he sorta had 4.  Polygamy in its finest hour. His aunt competed with his mama for daddy’s attention by having babies & when she stopped having babies, she gives him her maidservant. Mama gives daddy her maidservant as well to have babies for her. So, daddy is one big whore dog & women were thrown around like a baseball at the World Series and babies coming from all directions. One wife is a brat & not content with being the special wife & the one her husband truly loved. She wanted it ALL. One wife only desired him to love her but that never happened no matter how many kids she gave him. His grandpa was a wicked con & they had to escape from his grandpa in the middle of the night to escape his wrath. His brothers were upset about their sister being raped. The man who raped her offered to marry her. They agreed if his family would get circumcised, he could marry their sister. They did according to what they asked & while they were healing, the brothers came in & killed them all & took their women.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.

In the end, he had a load of brothers who hated him because he was his daddy’s favorite for many reasons. So, they got together to kill him. The oldest brother saves him but they still threw him in a pit which was a dried up well & was going to let him die of starvation & thirst there. When they threw him in, they weren’t fazed with even a tad bit of compassion. Instead, while Joseph was begging for his life and probably crying, they sat down & ate lunch. They were probably joking about him being in the pit. “Joseph, what about those dreams now? Who’s bowing down to whom? Oh, we have that special coat too to show daddy & tell him you was killed.” Some travelers were approaching; so one brother comes up with the idea of making a profit. Hey, let’s make money thru this brat. They sold him off to a paddy wagon headed to Egypt.

The executioner for Pharaoh of Egypt bought Joseph. Joseph was a good-looking, handsome young man so I’m sure he went for a pretty penny. The chief executioner’s name was Potiphar. It didn’t take half a brain to see that Joseph’s God blessed everything Joseph touched.  He quickly found favor with Potiphar & Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything.  When I say everything, I mean Joseph knew more about the house than the owner. Potiphar’s wife also took notice of the young man in charge of her home. She wanted him & she wanted him bad. However, Joseph, being the upstanding Godly man that he was, refused her. She approached him again & he ran away with his loincloth in her hand crying rape. Do you see here what Joseph did? He didn’t try to sit & reason with her. He didn’t try to explain it to her because he had already done that once.  He didn’t sit & try to reason with her, HE RAN. He ran NAKED. He seen sin & he ran.  1 Corinthians 6:18 says Flee from sexual immorality. Romans 16:7 states: Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. That’s exactly how we should react when temptations are right there in our face. Don’t sit around & try to reason with it. Don’t sit & stare at it longer. You give it a 2nd thought, you done for. You need to take what you have on & even if you’re naked, YOU RUN.

Personally, I don’t believe that Potiphar believed his wife but to hold his head high, he had to punish this kid he had entrusted everything to. Don’t you think if he truly believed her, he would have put Joseph to death? He was the head executioner for crying out loud. Of course he would have killed him. Instead, he’s placed in a prison with other prisoners of the kingdom. Not the everyday scum criminals but the ones the king got mad at for not closing the drapes on time or not sweetening his wine quick enough.

In prison, Joseph interprets dreams, which then brings him into the presence of the king. Pharaoh seen that Joseph was touched by his God & Joseph once again found favor. Now, the favor was with the head honcho of the entire land. He was placed in charge of the entire kingdom. Imagine that. Look at his crazy family, the past circumstances that God used to bring him to this very time & place. Look at the pits he was in. His brothers put him in one pit. Then, Potiphar put him in one because of lies.  He never complains, grumbles or argues. It doesn’t even say he defended himself against Potiphar’s wife. Maybe he knew the truth would come out. Maybe he knew his life would be testimony enough. Or better yet, maybe he had the strength, faith & trust that his God would take care of the situation & he didn’t need to defend himself. When we serve truth & live by it, the Truth will defend us when needed.

Joseph’s evil conniving brothers came seeking out shelter for the family not even knowing they were talking to the same brother they almost killed but sold for a profit instead. Joseph put them through a few tests & they deserved them all. Just like us in our sin, the Lord puts us through trials. He wants us to see the errs of our ways. Joseph couldn’t stand it any longer though. He had to reveal the truth & love up on his brothers & forgive them. Just as the Savior does with us, He just wants to love up on us & forgive us. He just wants that relationship with us regardless of what we have done to Him.

What pit are you in at the moment? How do you handle yourself while in that pit? Are you complaining, arguing with God, grumbling like the children of Israel in the desert, or are you staying focused on the One who is going to show favor towards you? Are you trusting that He will handle today because He holds your tomorrow? If not, WHY? God chose a 17-year-old kid to save His chosen people of Israel from starvation and famine. Joseph never complained, whined, or grieved over his circumstances. If he did, the Bible doesn’t say it. I know we all get weak & fall into the pits of complaining, stressing, being discouraged, depressed, anxiety & other emotions. We all do. However, we need to also remember that we have a Savior who has already delivered us from that pit.

Satan attacks those next in line for a blessing. He sees you’re bound for greatness in the Lord. He hates that. He would have absolutely loved to destroy Joseph. That would then destroy the chosen people of God, which would have trinkled down to us as His chosen. However, Joseph stood strong in the face of his adversities, his dysfunctional, crazy, murderous, polygamous, disaster of a family. He didn’t use any of these as an excuse to fail. Instead, he pushed forward KNOWING WHO was the One that led him & knowing his Jehovah Rapha was also his Jehovah Nissi, the God that had already claimed the victory.

Joseph is a foreshadow of Christ and an incredible example for us to follow. The few people that will read this are probably older & have experienced many things in life. Most of us have kids the same age as Joseph or close to it or have had them at one time. Could you imagine your child going thru these trials & remaining as focused as he did and the strength that he showed in His Lord? Look at how amazing his choices were at this age. He stood in the face of evil & said NO & ran. He stood in the face of Pharaoh with confidence knowing His Redeemer would provide all of the answers he needed to claim the victory. And He did. He brought his family to Egypt & Pharaoh gave him the pick of the land. Joseph chose Goshen. Isn’t that just like the Lord? He didn’t give them an acre of land to farm & say figure it out. Nope. He gave him the PICK of the entire kingdom & Joseph, of course, chose the best land for his family. To God Be The Glory, great things He has done & will continue to do. Continue in your faith my dear brothers & sisters. The victory is around the next trial. Your blessing awaits. You only need to remain in His truths.

-- EVEN I WOULDN'T READ THIS ONE & I WROTE IT. IT'S A COTTON PICKING NOVEL.