Joe Kid Pt. 1
His name is Joseph. We will be calling him Joe for short. As a matter of fact, I am calling him Joe Kid. If you haven’t read the story of Joe Kid in the Bible, you can do so by reading Genesis 37 through Genesis 46. I like the name Joe Kid, because it is short, punchy and distinctive. Also, it is easy to spell and untraditional. Joseph is good but it is too well known and has lost its edge over the years. Anyway, Joe Kid for me just seems to fit the bill much better. So Joe Kid it is.
By the way, we are picking up Joe Kid’s life at the age of 17. We read in Genesis 37:2,
“Joseph, when 17 years of age….”
That is why we call this kid – Joe Kid. That would make him about a senior in high school in our day. However, he is a raw Freshman in the School of Life. His dad, Big Jake (Jacob), runs a great big sheep and grain ranch out West, that is to say, West Canaan. Joe Kid helped his Dad Big Jake look after the ranch, and even look out after his brothers for his Dad Big Jake. That last little item will prove to be far more touchy later on in the story.
What a marvel of intrigue this Joe Kid story is. Frankly, like no other story I have ever read in my entire life of 70 years. Joe Kid is to me the archetype figure of all of the most amazing biographies that we can read in history. He was born later in Big Jake’s life. Joe came from a big family in the list of 12 sons. Just so happens that Joe Kid is Big Jake’s favorite boy, as we read in Genesis 37:3,
“Now Israel (Big Jake) loved Joseph (Joe Kid) more than all his sons,
because he was the son of his old age….”
Oh, oh!!! A huge fat NO-NO. You may not, you must not love one son more than other sons. First of all, that is ungodly, for God loves all of His sons and daughters the same, infintely, and without preference. Second, that makes the non-favored sons hate both you Dad and the one that you love the most. Third, you more than likely run the risk of turning the favored son into a conceited, little brat. Fourth, it puts the favored one in danger and marks him out for trouble, and as we shall see in a moment:
“IT CAUSED JOE KID TO GO FROM BEING COLORFULLY STRIPED
TO BEING CRUELLY STRIPPED.”
Or again:
“THE FAVORED ONE WILL MORE LIKELY THAN NOT CARRY HIMSELF
HIGH AND INSOLENT, AND MORE LIKELY THAN NOT WILL BE
BROUGHT LOW AND ISOLATED.”
And on top of all of this Joe Kid was born to Big Jake’s favorite wife, Rachel by name. This has family rivalry written all over it, with huge doses of favoritism all directed by Big Jake at Rachel and her boy Joe Kid. Joe Kid made old Jake feel young again, and helped him hang on to his youth somehow.
Now then, no Dad is perfect, and Big Jake isn’t either. Far from it! Not only is Joe Kid his dad’s favorite, but Big Jake spoils Joe Kid to boot. Big Jake is always giving his boy Joe Kid special treatment. Big Jake sees these new coats in the West Canaan Mall, and what is more, it was one of those loud, multi-colored jobs. So Big Jake buys the multi-colored, gaudy outerwear for his boy Joe Kid, but he does not buy any for the other boys. It would become the fluorescent marker of a growing family feud. All the other brothers have the traditional clothes. Joe Kid gets the special coat from his dad, and his brothers get nothing. They have to wear the same clothes which by now appear even more drab.
Well then, by now you are sensing some very real growing tensions back on the ranch. Sibling rivalry is bad enough all by itself, but Big Jake intensifies it by playing favorites and broadcasting it with Joe Kid’s one-of-a-kind, neon, flashing, shouting garment. Jeepers Jake, it is bad enough that you have made your boy Joe Kid your spoiled, favorite son, but now with this blaring loudspeaker of a coat, you are making it much harder than it already is. Fact is Big Jake:
“IF PARENTING WAS EASY IT WOULDN’T START OUT
WITH A THING CALLED LABOR.”
Jake, Jake, Jake, don’t make it harder than it already is. You have big tension running in your family, and quite unlike a running toilet, you won’t be able to fix this by jiggling the handle. Yep, exercise twice the stupidity, get twice the disaster, and pray twice the price.
Oh yes, I have forgotten to mention that we must add to the mix for the perfect storm that Joe Kid is a tattle-tale. He is a snitch. That is to say, He blabs to his Dad Big Jake bad reports about his brothers as we read in Genesis 37:2,
“And Joseph brought back a bad report about
them to their father.”
If it wasn’t for the fact that this is a remarkably true story, we might call it the original “Tattle-Tale Tale.” It wasn’t that Joe Kid told big, fat lies to Big Jake. No, quite to the contrary! Daddy Jake could always count on getting the straight skinny from Joe Kid, which is also why Joe’s standing with his brothers is growing thinner and thinner by the day.
Even though the tattling may be true, let’s face it, you and I both know how in human relationships, and particularly in families and friends, how:
“THE TRAGIC CONSUMING FLAME OF A TATTLE-TALE-BEARER
THROWS EVERTYHING AND EVERYONE
INTO COMBUSTION.”
Let’s get real here! We read in Proverbs 17:9,
“He that repeats a matter separates intimate friends.”
And these brothers are not that intimate to begin with. To report to others, let alone to Big Jake, what someone or someones naughtily did or said is to sow grudges, inflame hearts, ruin relationships, and even destroy families. Indeed:
“TALE BEARING IS NOT ONLY INCENDARY, BUT ITS DESTRUCTIVE
RESULTS ARE ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE.”
Of course we know that the Lord Jesus tells us that if our brother is taken in an offense, we are to go to him personally and privately to address it in love, to call him to repentance and thereby correct the situation.
But more than that, let me state that principle that the Joe Kids and Jill Kids of life must learn at an early age in life to prevent a lot of Hell later on in life, and it is this:
“EVEN A NEGATIVE TRUTH REPORTED ABOUT ANOTHER WITH
MALICOUSNESS AND PREJUDICE IS AS BAD AS THE
GREATEST LIE EVER CONCEIVED IN HELL.”
And take this to the bank:
“GENERALLY SPEAKING, TALE-BEARER TYPES ARE JUST AS
UNWILLING TO REPORT SOMETHING THAT WILL BE TO
THE ADVANTAGE OF THAT PERSON AS THEY ARE
WILLING TO REPORT THAT WHICH WILL BE TO
THE DISADVANTAGE OF THAT PERSON.”
You see, for all of these reasons I have changed Joseph’s name to Joe Kid. It is my attempt to put him into some sort of “Witness Protection Program.” But as you will see later, it doesn’t work. Oh well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.
JOE KID THE DREAMER
I mean, to his brothers this very “Irritating Kid Brother” is becoming a real pain in the neck. No matter about the name change to Joe Kid, by this time his very irritating and unforgettable name Joseph is already like an ugly tattoo on the back of his neck. He will never shake it.
And would you believe on top of all this, Joe the Kid has dreams not only, but dreams in which Joe Kid always comes out on top and his brothers always come out on the bottom. Wouldn’t you know it?
Oh yes, for instance, he has dreams about him and his brothers working out in the grain fields, and his sheaf rises up and stands erect, while his brothers’ sheaves gather around and bow down to his sheaf. (Genesis 37:7) Oh my word Joe Kid, you had better keep that to yourself, because between you and me Joe Kid, that could put this entire mess over the top. Got it Kid, hush is the word, and surely don’t lay that on your brothers, for otherwise you are cruising for a bruising. Which is why, Joe Kid, we read in the Bible words like those in Proverbs 27:2,
“Let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger,
and not your own lips.”
And there is an even wilder and harder-to-stomach dream that Joe Kid has about the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing down to Joe. (Genesis 37:9) Whoa! That is over the top-top. That one has cosmic catastrophe written all over it. My dear Joe Kid, this has the potential of being the original “Star Wars.” And for sure don’t tell your brothers this one, for by this time, if you have told them the sheaf dream, they will have already learned to hate you and your pompous sheaf.
Joe Kid, listen, something this inflammatory is better kept to yourself. And Joe Kid, just ponder these things in your heart for now, and ask the Lord to show you the meaning of your dreams. However, if Joe Kid is anything like most people, he will be poor at pondering, slow at praying, and very quick at puking, that is, puking the whole thing to his brothers.”
My, my, these dreams sound like a couple of Peter Pan Disney Classics in the making, don’t they? Striking resemblance, for Peter Pan was also aggressive, full of himself, and boastful.
Sure enough, as the final zinger, Joe tells his brothers about his pro-Joe Kid and anti-Joe’s Brothers’ dreamworld as he wears his flashy coat mind you in the telling of it. One can almost see the twinkle in his eyes, and perhaps even a wink to his brothers as if to say, “Hey guys, don’t let it get to you too much now, for after all, they are just dreams.” To Joe’s brothers, they were not dreams, but rather they were nightmares that they were not able to wake up from.
Forget the wink you little fink! Hear me Joe the Kid:
“THOSE WHO WALK ON THE HIGH MOUNTAIN OF PRIDE AND
SELF-OPINION ARE HEADED FOR THE LOW VALLEY
OF HUMILIATION AND SELF-DESPAIR.”
Yes indeed Joe Kid, let me quote the words of our Lord in Matthew 5:3,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.”
But I have to warn you Kid:
“Cursed are the proud in spirit, for theirs
is the pits.”
All winking and kidding aside, the winker is not endearing himself to the winkees. The brothers are becoming more and more jealous and hateful of their colorful brother, Joe Kid the Dream Machine. As a matter of fact we read in Genesis 37:5,
“Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,
they hated him even more.”
It may not be evident to the casual reader of Scripture, but the “Divine Dream-Maker” is at work in the life of Joe Kid. When God gives dreams to His dreamers, He doesn’t waste His dreams on hodgepodge nonsense, anymore than He leaves loose ended the many contingencies of their lives. Nothing is left to chance, either in the dreamers’ dreams or in the dreamers’ lives.
Joe Kid did not understand the prophetic profoundness of his agricultural and astronomical dreamscapes. He did not know that his dreams would one day become reality in the deliverance of his family and the whole earth, or that his dreams were exact living DVDs of the future. God knew! God also knew that uppity Joe Kid would play the game of one-up-man-ship with his brothers by sticking his dream-knife into their hearts. That all had to take place for God’s plans to be fulfilled. It is working like clockwork, as God’s plans and purposes always do.
THE HELLISH FLAMES OF JEALOUSY
Something here is going to explode because:
“PEOPLE GREEN WITH ENVY ARE RIPE FOR TROUBLE.”
The Apostle James is right you know when he writes in James 3:16,
“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there
is disorder and every evil thing.”
You see, where there is jealousy, there can be true or wholesome relationships. Friendship is impossible where there is envy. Be careful if you find yourself saying about or to someone:
“I ENVY YOU – HIM.”
That is not the same as saying:
“I ADMIRE YOU.”
Hear it:
“ADMIRATION OF ANOTHER PERSON IS APPRECIATION, WHILE ENVY
OF ANOTHER PERSON IS RESENTMENT.”
That is why James in effect is saying:
“WHERE THERE IS ENVY THERE IS EVERY EVIL THING.”
The jealous person will come to loathe the envied person because that person is a constant reminder to the jealous person of what she or he wants so badly to be or have and can’t.
Long before James, the wisest of all men wrote in Proverbs 27:4,
“Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can
stand before jealousy?”
In other words, if you think anger and wrath are bad, you haven’t seen anything yet until jealousy enters the picture. Listen now:
“THE HEART OF A JEALOUS PERSON BURNS WITH HATRED
LIKE THE FIRES OF HELL WHICH ARE INTOLERABLE
AND PERPETUAL.”
Sure enough, and it isn’t long, and the brothers begin to sharpen their knives. They cannot stand this spoiled brat. As a matter of fact they now hate this priggish, conceited, colorful kid. Joe Kid may be wearing his multi-colored duds, but his brothers are now wearing red suits with pointed tails and hoods with black horns on top. In short, they want to kill him. They are having a devil of a time now even looking at Joe Kid.
Then Big Jake sends out Joe Kid one day to check on the welfare of his brothers as they pastured their father’s flock in a place called Shechem. Big Jake obviously didn’t have a clue that he was actually sending his pet boy to a “Pack of Wolves” instead of to a “Band of Brothers.” You know, some “Brothers Only” time together. For that matter, Joe Kid was unsuspecting as well.
But we read in Genesis 37:18-19,
“When they saw him from a distance, and before he came close
to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.”
“And they said to one another, ‘Here comes the dreamer….”
There was that irritating something about Joe Kid that just seeing him coming ignited their jealous and hateful passions. Joe Kid’s personality demonstrated a flair for percussion, if you know what I mean. Everything about him everywhere he went just seemed to announce him with a drum roll like some sort of celebrity or prince. Just his demeanor, and now his dreams, seemed to suggest that they should march in formation behind him. The cadence of Joe Kid’s approach drove his brothers to murderous rage. They are not about to join the Joe Kid Parade, but rather end it once and for all by raining blood on his parade and killing Joe Kid on the spot right then and there.
Oh yes indeed:
“JEALOUSY SHOWS NO PITY, AND WILL NOT BE SATISFIED
UNTIL IT SUCKS OUT THE BLOOD OF THE ENVIED ONE.”
If you will:
“JOE KID’S BROTHERS HAD ALL DEVELOPED INTESTINAL
DISORDERS WHICH COULD ONLY BE CURED BY
DEFECATING JOE KID FROM THEIR
TROUBLED SYSTEMS.”
Listen, whether it is that certain someone’s envied looks, their wealth, their position, their popularity, their talent, their whatever, ask Jesus to forgive you of your envy and dislike. Ask Jesus to take it out of you, and set you free of it. You and I don’t want to mess with it for a second, for it only takes that long for it to begin to take root in our minds and hearts.
JOE KID IS DISPLACED
Joe Kid’s oldest brother Reuben can’t go along with his brothers’ murderous rage. He will not allow bloodshed, but rather wants Joe thrown into an old dry well, and thereby teach the spoiled punk a lesson he would never forget. Then Reuben planned to come back at night and get Joe Kid out of the pit.
When kids are very young, they like to go outdoors and throw dirt at each other. What fun! When they get older, the more sociopathic like to throw each other into deep holes – deep sibling rivalry. When it comes to the babies of the family, whether our younger brothers or sisters, we are all teasers I suppose with at most some small-caliber jesting and harassing! But kill him or her! That “Band of Brothers” was an overflowing cornucopia of danger and death.
Dear Lord, they are now possessed by Satan himself who is the murderer from the beginning. (John 8:44) They may have been brought up in a believing home, but now they have far more of the devil and the devil has far more of them than they have of God or God has of them. This all makes “Mischief Night” on Halloween look saintly.
Reuben wins out. They tear off Joe Kid’s sickening multi-colored garment with great satisfaction, and down he goes to the pit bottom, down into the cold darkness. Then they sit down to eat as if it was all in a day’s work. So they feast as a reward for a job well done. A happy time of merriment as they discuss the events of the day! I can hear them yucking it up with great, sinister glee, with hapless Joe Kid as the main course of their meal. There was plenty of Joe Kid to around.
Then it just so happens about that time that a caravan of Ishmaelites on camels from Gilead comes thumping and humping along. Reuben now has the far less dark but effective idea that they should sell Joe Kid as a slave to the Ishmaelites. He says to his brothers in Genesis 37:28-27,
“What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?”
“Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands
on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.”
They listened to him, especially the part about the profit making scheme. After all, a dead Joe Kid is worth nothing, but an alive Joe Kid can bring in some “Moola.” Shrewd Reuben plies these brothers, who still have blood in their eyes, with the more mitigating “Dollars and Sense” approach. They mull it over, but they need more time.
Then it isn’t long and another caravan, this time Midianites, comes by on their way to Egypt, but Joe Kid’s brothers decide to sell him to the Ishmaelites instead for 20 shekels of silver. Perhaps they offered the highest price. Not quite what the brothers have in mind, and surely not as fulfilling as throwing a grenade into a fox hole. However, as it turns out, under Reuben’s prodding, they reach some sort of harmonious blend of “Madness and Money.” So finally Joe Kid is gone and out of their lives, and we can hear them taunting him as he is taken away:
“SWEET DREAMS JOEY BOY, SWEET DREAMS.”
We may well think of Joe Kid at 17 years of age as a high school senior, but in fact as we have said:
“JOE KID IS NOW A RAW FRESHMAN IN GOD’S
SCHOOL OF LIFE.”
And do we or have we already learned what the class yell in God’s School of Life is? It is very short but far from simple and sweet. It is this:
“OUCH.”
“Joey Boy” is about to experience things that he could have never “Dreamed.” Being enrolled in God’s School of Life can more often than not be like that. What a shocking comedown. From the colorful apple of Big Jake’s eye all the way down to zilch. He is scared, lonely, and homesick. From somebody to nobody all in one day! Like a deposed and exiled king being forced to live in a ghetto low-rent district with ominous creatures lurking around every corner.
After all, Joe Kid, Daddy’s boy and household pet, is now a slave mind you. Before he can even begin to slightly realize what is happening, Joe Kid is resold. We read in Genesis 39:1,
“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an
Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken
him down there.”
Here is this tubby looking Egyptian officer by the name of Potiphar who is the head of King Pharaoh of Egypt’s “Secret Service.” He buys Joe Kid from the Ishmaelites and takes young Joey the slave to his own house. This was all in all a terrifying, devastating experience for Joe Kid. He is now a teenager away from his doting Daddy in a totally foreign culture and is in fact:
“A DISPLACED PERSON – FROM CENTERPIECE TO A
WORTHLESS PIECE OF SLAVE MEAT.”
Please don’t go up to Joe Kid and ask him if he is afraid. That is like asking an unwilling participant in a game of Russian roulette, “Does this make you nervous?” Joe Kid is nothing more now than a twice-sold used camel, and probably worth much less than that.
{What follows here is optional – Include if so desired —–Listen, God’s sons and daughters in case you have not noticed already, we are not God’s cosmic pets surrounded by some special immunity against the tragedies, sufferings, hardships, and sorrows of life. Where in the world some religious people get that idea from I don’t know! What the Lord Jesus did promise us is opposition, persecution, rejection even by family members if we remain true to the Word of God. Jesus did not say,
“Let a man lay down his burdens, take up his bouquet of
roses, and follow me.”
No, not quite, but instead He says in Matthew 16:24,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross and follow Me.”
As we have said, we are promised persecution, tribulations in the world; trials for our faith. What do we think it will be like for the generation that gets closer to the Lord’s coming? It will be no easier and more than likely even harder than the first generation of the church after Jesus left. Hear that! Today the church is being challenged from within and persecuted from without. The world is in convulsion politically, spiritually and physically, just as the Bible said it would be.
It could well be that we, and more than likely our believing children and grandchildren, will also become DISPLACED PERSONS, separated from fellow Christians while running and hiding for our lives. That is to say, will you and I have to endure and persevere without having fellowship or attending church? That is what it may come to for some. It was this way for many years throughout history and it may become the same way again, as we read in Hebrews 11:38 about Christians with these words that somehow strangely and eerily remind us of Joe Kid in the pit,
“(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and
mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”
Can you and I stand strong in our faith through the coming, violent storms of life as have others before us? Be honest, because now is the time to prepare! When all the while, as Mike Oppenheimer states, “Prosperity teachers continue promising double and triple rainbows to people (100 fold 1,000 fold blessings in return to their seed sowing), in the end, they will find no pot of gold, only dirt. They continue to speak of all the ‘blessings’ God’s children deserve and ignore the ‘real’ promises that are for the faithful.”
“The Lord has promised that we will have tribulations as long as we are in the world. Jesus said, ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.’ Paul wrote, ‘All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.’ Maturity is not accomplished by giving people gorging on dessert while ignoring the meat. Acts 14:22, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’” (End of Oppenheimer quote)
Far out stuff? I would imagine that if you and I would have told Joe Kid about what was going to happen to him, he would have thought us to be far out too! Think about it! The Koran teaches that all infidels (all non-Muslims) must be killed. The Koran mentions Jihad at least 60 times, and Jihad means “HOLY WAR TO MURDER INFIDELS.”
Islam is not a religion of peace, while Barack Obama calls Islam one ot the world’s great religions. In fact, Obama recently said in the killing of Osama bin Laden that we are not at war with Islam. Fact is, America is at war with Islam, because Islam is at its very heart at war with all non-Muslims. Really, killing Osama bin Laden is like killing a cancer carrier, but not getting at the cancer itself which is Islam. In Jeremiah Wright’s church, Obama’s former church and pastor, you can be any religion you want to, including Islam, except being a born-again Christian.
Today, Muslims are working throughout our government, and throughout our airports. Christians and non-Christians alike should read the Koran so as to know who they have working next to them. And not only next to their house, but in their White House, they have a Muslim President born of a Muslim father. —–End of optional}
Listen now to something that we must hear real good. We read in Genesis 39:2,
“And the Lord was with Joseph….”
Boy you say, it surely doesn’t look like it, and surely doesn’t feel like it in Joe Kid’s life either. Oh my, those uprootings and displacements in life are so hard. You are off to college, and you feel like a displaced, lonely exile so far away from home. Or, you have lost your job, and you must now hunt for another in this dog-eat-dog world and in this fragile economy. You not only feel displaced but replaced. You are moving far away because your spouse has been transferred out of state or even out of the country. You feel not only displaced but totally our of place. You are in all of these displacements completely out of your comfort zone.
Here then is the very young Joe Kid, a teenager who has just lost the companionship and guardianship of his father who thinks he is dead by now. His brothers made sure that his dad would think that very thing, as they showed Big Jake his colorful garment drenched in goat’s blood as if a wild animal had killed his boy. He has just lost his home, his family, his friends, and his country. He is an alien now in Egypt! He is a displaced nobody.
I am sure that Joe Kid no longer went to bed with that warm, snuggly, loved feeling that he once knew. Rather he fell into bed under the limp weight of fear and loneliness, as the chilling winds of betrayal and abandonment swept over him late at night. I can imagine him thinking, “How did this happen to me? Who is going to watch out for me? Where am I going to get my confidence? Has God forgotten about me?”
It would all seem so fatal and futile if it were not for the truth that we read about Joseph over and over again, as we jump ahead a bit in the story in Genesis 39:2,
“And the Lord was with Joseph.”
And again in Genesis 39:21,
“But the Lord was with Joseph.”
Once more in Genesis 39:23,
“The Lord was with him.”
Could Joe Kid understand that, sink his teeth into that, and soothe himself with that? I don’t think so, not at first at least. I am reminded in that regard of the story of the boxer who was taking quite a beating in the match. At one point at the end of a round, his trainer said to him, “You are doing just great. He is not laying a hand on you.” At which point he said to the trainer with his swollen mouth, “Would you then please keep your eye on the referee, for somebody in the ring is beating the daylights out of me.”
Yes, I know the feelings Joe Kid is having. I know the feelings of being displaced. Being excommunicated from my pastorate and denomination for teaching the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, as well as the Gifts of the Spirit, I ended up in a computer brokerage. God sent three angels into my life by the names of Vern, Merle, and Larry who gave me that job when I was out on the street with my precious family with nowhere to go. You see Joe Kid, Bob Kid learned early on that it doesn’t change the fact that God is with you and me in our most painful displacments. Hear it Joe, Bob, Ruth, Mary “Et al” if you possibly can,
“GOD MAY WELL DISPLACE US, BUT HE WILL
NEVER MISPLACE US.”
God has not forgotten you, and you are not some misplaced oversight on His part. In fact, we read the amazing words of Genesis 39:2,
“And the Lord was with Joseph, and He became
a successful man.”
GOD USES THE BAD FOR OUR GOOD
When the New English Bible was first being translated into what they felt would be more understandable and readable English, they translated that text in this way,
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was
a lucky man.”
The translators ought to be ashamed, for there was no bad or no good luck involved in Joe Kid’s displacement whatsoever. No, no, this is God’s way of molding you Joe Kid. He has plans for you, and the perfect plans of God in your life are unfolding right now through the cruel imperfections of men. This is not just insanely jealous brothers who are tricking God into some totally unexpected and defensive counter move on your behalf to change your fate and fortune. God has never been forced into an unexpected counter move, and never will.
Listen now, and never forget it:
“GOD NEVER HAS AND NEVER WILL HAVE A REPLACEMENT PLAN
IF AND WHEN THE FIRST ONE GOES BAD.”
Let the following set us free, for if we don’t we will be chafing under and fighting against people and circumstances and even God our whole lives long. Hear it:
“GOD USES FOR OUR GOOD BAD PEOPLE AND EVENTS IN OUR
LIVES THAT HE DOESN’T EVEN APPROVE OF.”
Yes I know, that is a real brain scrambler, but the principle is this:
“JUST BECAUSE GOD USES CIRCUMSTANCES IN OUR LIVES THAT HE
DOES NOT APPROVE OF, DOES NOT GIVE US THE RIGHT
TO DISAPROVE OF GOD.”
In the days ahead and until the end of time, we truly must sink our faith-teeth into Romans 8:28,
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose.”
That means all things, bad and good, are being worked together for good for those who love God. That means believe it or not:
“FOR THE CHILD OF GOD, EVERY NEGATIVE IS A ROADSIGN POINTING
TO THE POSITIVE OF GOD, AND EVERY BAD IS A ROADSIGN
POINTING TO THE GOODNESS OF GOD.”
Yes, I know that this is hard to fathom in a world where:
“IT SEEMS THAT GODLESS PEOPLE GET THE GOLD MINE
AND GODLY PEOPLE GET THE SHAFT.”
But grab the following by faith:
“JOE KID’S BEING THROWN DOWN INTO HUMAN DISGRACE WAS
IN FACT A STEP UP INTO DIVINE GRACE.”
Whether we can see it or not:
“GOD’S PERFECT AND LOVING PLAN FOR OUR LIVES IS UNFOLDING
IN THE MIDST OF LIFE’S DISPLACEMENTS.”
And Joe Kid would learn along the way what C.S. Lewis states:
“GOD WHISPERS TO US IN OUR WELL BEING, BUT HE
SHOUTS TO US IN OUR SUFFERING.”
This reminds me of the pitcher by the name of Dave Dravecky, who lost his pitching arm mind you from cancer. Think now of C.S Lewis’ statement that God shouts to us in our suffering, as you hear Dave Dravecky say:
“I’VE LEARNED THAT WHEN WE WALK TRHOUGH SOMEONE’S DOOR
WHO IS SUFERING, WE HAVE TO RESPECT THE
SANCTITY OF THAT ROOM.”
That means that we must respect Joe Kid’s pit and slave quarters. And Dave Dravecky goes on to say:
“GOD DOES NOT PROMISE US A LIFE FULL OF MOUNTAIN TOP
EXPERIENCES, NOR DOES GOD GIVE US A MAP FULL OF
DETOURS AROUND THE VALLEYS OF LIFE.”
Rather, God walks with us, right beside us, holding our hand, as He is doing with Joe Kid. And then one day we look back and say with Dave Dravecky, and I quote:
“WHEN WE EMERGE FROM THE VALLEYS, WE REALIZE THAT
THERE IS WHERE OR SPIRITUAL GROWTH WAS.”
And again Dave says:
“OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH ISN’T ON THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE
THE TIMBERLINE, IT’S IN THE VALLEYS.”
JOE KID IS PROMOTED
People in and around Potiphar’s house notice something about Joe Kid. They notice that he is different. But then, we are all different. But Joe is different in very striking and rare ways. In the most simple of terms, Joe is industrious, trustworthy, dependable, and very efficient. Not first of all impressive in the witness of his words, but striking in the witness of his work.
Can you imagine the slave Joe Kid being promoted to a very non-slavish and honored position in Potiphar’s household? We read in Genesis 39:6,
“So he (Potiphar) left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and
with him there he did not concern himself with anything
except the food that he ate. Now Joseph was
handsome in form and appearance.”
With Joe Kid around, Potiphar doesn’t have a worry in the world. He put Joe in charge of everything relating to domestic issues, all but the food which is the responsibility of the cooks. Joe does nothing haphazardly, nor does he go about his work in a poky or halfhearted manner. Knowing that Potiphar as head of King Pharaoh’s body guards, did not get to his own position by being sloppy or lazy, so too he would not appoint someone as foreman of his household who was the type to take long naps and lay around feeding his face. Joe Kid is the image of loyalty, energy and efficiency. Big Jake had taught him well.
If you will, Joe Kid is like a beautiful riding horse with a sensitive mouth. Potiphar notices right away that Joe Kid learns very fast and only needs the slightest pressure on the reins to make Joe do what he wants him to do. Then it becomes apparent very soon that no pressure is needed at all, for Joe Kid has become the very extension of Potiphar. There is no need whatsoever of hard-reining Joe into submission and that is why Potiphar could give him free rein of his house. Potiphar and his family were in good hands with Joe Kid.
Yes indeed, we rightfully salute Joe Kid for his remarkable and even miraculous promotion. First, God has a deep and unshakable sense of the highest honor of industriousness and trustworthiness of character. He tells us in Romans 13:7,
“…honor to whom honor.”
We see the following principle working in the life of Joe Kid:
“WHEN OUR CHARACTER BRINGS HONOR TO GOD, GOD
BRINGS HONOR TO OUR CHARACTER.”
I think we may have already been blinded by Joe Kid’s multi-colored outerwear, and thereby have missed Joe Kid’s true colors. Yes, he was spoiled and self-centered, and his dad Big Jake bears much of the guilt for that? But does Joe Kid disobey Big Jake? No! Does Joe Kid lie to his brothers? No! Does Joe Kid have hateful and murderous thoughts against his siblings? No! Does Joe Kid curse at his brothers when they “Kidnap” him and throw him in the hole? No! Does Joe Kid display one ounce of self-pity? Does Joe Kid cut corners in his work? No!
Hear this:
“BAD CHARACTER AND DISHONOR, AND GOOD CHARACTER
AND HONOR ARE INSEPARABLE COMPANIONS IN
THE EYES OF THE LORD.”
Second, we must remember the words of Psalm 75:6-7 KJV,
“For promotion cometh neither from the west, not from the east,
nor from the south:”
“But God is the judge, and He putteth down one, and
setteth up another.”
Joe Kid is already on the high road of character and honor, and God greatly honors him for it. And that high road to honor for Joe Kid will ascend higher and higher, as we travel with him from slave to steward and beyond.
The entire life of Joe kid, with much more mystery, misery, and marvel to come, is an unparalleled story of countless and seeming loose chances and coincidences all directed by God to miraculous ends. I ask you, “Was it mere happenstance that Big Jake sent his son Joe Kid to his murderous brothers at the same time the Ishmaelite caravan passed by? Or again, “Was it mere fate that Joe Kid’s estranged brothers use the opportunity to sell him to those who would carry him to Egypt?” Or again I ask, “Was it the luck of the draw that the Ishmaelites would resell Joe Kid to Pharaoh’s S.S. Chief who would then lift Joe Kid to a responsible and favored position in Egypt’s power structure?” And again, “Is all of that and much more being casually shuffled together like a deck of cards, which in the end result saves an entire nation from famine, starvation, and death?”
The Bible says:
“THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH AND HE BECAME A SUCCESSFUL MAN.”
(JOE KID Pt 2 will be posted soon)
