Which red door do you choose? They all end up in CAPTIVITY! (Joseph cont.)

So we left off with Joseph finding his ever-plotting brothers far north in the fields of Dothan. When he arrives after the 70 mile trip, he gives lunch to his brothers and his "reward" for coming all that way, is a beating, stripping, and a-throwing into an empty well/cistern. His brothers' rage, as a result of Jacob's favortism and Joseph's favorable dreams, was so intense they sought to kill him. However, Judah and Reuben struggled with this decision and agreed that it would be better if blood was not on their hands, so they left him to die in the well. Can you imagine Joseph's cries for help, for mercy? Can you hear his lonely distress? He probably felt so dismayed at his own stupidity for believing the dreams he had in the recent past were going to come true. Now they certainly wouldn't....you can't be a king lying naked and alone in a well....

We continue on...soon, a group of Ishmaelites came upon the brothers as they were eating the lunch Joseph had prepared. The brothers sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 sheckels of silver, so that they could not be responsible for the disposal of his body. He was sold into slavery. Bound for Egypt, Joseph would have had to pass his hometown on the journey. Imagine Joseph being within a couple hundred feet of his father's home, begging to have freedom to race into Jacob's arms and tell him the whole frightening story. Afterall, Joseph was only 17 years old and clearly close to his father. This was the reward Joseph got for being obedient to his father...for going the extra mile to feed his hungry brothers....for serving the people around him....all he received was pain and a one-way ticket to slavery in Egypt.

Where was God? Was He seeing this or did he turn a blind eye? What did Joseph do to deserve this? Do you ever feel like all your righteous efforts leave you in a place of slavery where you feel alone, rejected, even hurt physically or emotionally because you have done the RIGHT thing? Sometimes life is sooo unfair. Would Joseph's dreams ever be fulfilled? Do you feel as though yours will not? Do you feel as though the fulfillment of your dreams is solely based on whether you do the right thing or not? If you tick God off enough, maybe He won't fulfill them....WRONG! If you desire a pure and holy heart and feel so lonely and forgotten, stay tuned for tomorrow's entry....we will look further into Joseph's journey where he is faced with situations that require tough choices.....which "red door" will he choose!? There is hope.....

(Tim took this picture...I like it. It is a good illustration of choices we have to make; he will post it on his blog later.)