Genesis 45: 1-15

Genesis 45: 1-15

v. 5, “Now do not be distressed or take it amiss that you sold me into slavery here; it was God who sent me ahead of you to save men’s lives.”

What an impressive attitude! Joseph had been sold into slavery by his envious brothers. He ended up in a prison in Egypt where he interpreted dreams for the imprisoned butler and baker of the Pharaoh. The accuracy of his interpretations became known; and, he was called upon to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams. In it, Joseph saw the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine that were to come. Pharaoh recognized Joseph’s gifts and abilities. He made Joseph “a counselor to Pharaoh and lord over all his household and ruler of all Egypt.” (v.8) Ultimately, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt for grain during the famine. After several interactions, Joseph revealed his true identity. He made the statement quoted from today’s scripture.

Joseph had an attitude or belief that God is at work in every situation. When we read the story, we find that “the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” (Gen. 39:2) In spite of the wrong done to him by his brothers (and the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife that landed him in prison), he continued to know God’s presence and live and move in sync with the Divine Within. He underwent the experiences, but he did not get stuck in them. He did not perpetuate the pain of envy, rejection, betrayal, disloyalty, or false accusation. He lived, labored, and even prospered while bearing the realities of his situation.

Too often, we get caught in cycles of emotional and mental pain. We ruminate, obsess, and unwittingly relive experiences that are hurtful to us. Old emotions with their connected memories, sensations, and fantasy images linger in our bodies in tight muscles, old injuries, and tender places. Rationalizations, justifications, and explanations replace thinking that can connect the body experiences (sensations, emotions, intuitions, passions, desires), including embodied experiences with the outside world of people and things, with thoughts that allow forward, life giving, life sustaining and nurturing responses.

Joseph suffered what was dealt him; he underwent the experiences. (The second definition of suffer in Webster’s Dictionary is “undergo experience”. The first includes “to feel keenly, to labor under.”) He did not get caught in cycles of pain, pity, or feeling victimized. He clearly bore what was and moved forward. He dealt with himself, and he continued to seek God’s guidance and presence in the midst of being wronged.

We have all been wronged in relationships. Somewhere, sometime, we have been mistreated, rejected, used, even abandoned. These are experiences we have to suffer, or they become self generating as we give into the negative feelings, beliefs, and images they create. By suffering—feeling the experience, laboring under it, we keep moving. We do not stop and get mired in what we cannot change or what we do not want. We continue to seek God Within/the Self. We remember that we are far more than what we have experienced with others or the current situations in which we find ourselves.

I invite you to move through today with an attitude of being with what is-- your emotions, thoughts, feelings, sensations—without judging, dismissing, or collapsing into them. Ask the Inner Divine Spirit to give you a felt connection to the Self/God Within that can sustain and help you prosper in the midst of what you suffer/bear