wealth then maybe children? Did circumstance's afflictions steal all promise from Job's heritage?
Bystander: Don't count on children, living unpredictably to establish their greatness, many trusting in reasonable life-styles to be blameless and upright, believing in their goodness, trusted in as by most of their parents, convinced to be a morality pleasing to the Lord. Job's children lived to feast, believing the righteous can eat to their heart's content, freely consuming as gluttons, carefree drinking, following a deliberately unconcerned existence, celebrating in distraction to veil obligations, suspected but never instilled, never indoctrinated by a blameless father. Is not the parent charged to raise up children to show them the way to go? Or can the village step in and lead ones to follow the world, showing them life comes but once, so go for it, enjoy it while they can, never allowing a feast to pass uncelebrated, urging all to revel in unending desires, partaking in ways of the world? Job rose to sanctify them after their partying, never considering any cleansing would last at the longest to the next celebration, vainly attempting to purify them with sacrifices God proclaims to be unneeded, hoping to comfort his soul, but could have been insured by efforts now too late. God blessed Job, giving him breath to say it was good while it lasted, knowing it would run out of abundance as all good things end, acknowledging His grace must end. But does His grace end or prepare us for something better, raising us beyond being blameless and upright, bringing us to be righteous? We may believe our memories represent the zenith of His grace.
Job: It would be best to have my memories vanish, destroying them as has happened to all I held dear. Hear my undeserved woes, making me despised and rejected--a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. All turned their backs on me, looking the other way, uncaring and crushing me for reasons unknown. Oppressed and treated harshly, I was tempted to utter no words, but I was driven to find someone, anyone to blame, one never transformed by God's grace, resolving my frustration by cursing the day of my birth, calling on the day to perish wherein I was born. Hearing my wife's wisdom to curse God and then die, I chose not to die.
Joseph: Is your fate worse than mine, losing all your treasures, believing you were created to be hated, given a gift defying fulfillment without being detested by all, wondering by what design is a person created to deserve being tarnished with hate? I too have lost everything, my entire family, all my possessions, including my freedom and dignity, asking if you lost more. But believing God has plans for me, beyond these losses, never threatened by them, I will never curse my birth, knowing I am here for a reason, one I must patiently wait to know, trusting He does not want me to die.
Job: God planned for me to be blemished, afflicted with the sores you see, making me unacceptable to be near, unwanted by all, avoided as anyone's company, out of sight by all, invading no one's memory, imprisoning me in isolation, waiting in vain for healing, compelling me to shout for all to hear, unclean, unclean, unclean, warning others to stay away. Suffering can have rewards, however, considering my afflictions spare me, protecting me from relationships threatening further torment, urging me into a shelter of silence, not even permitting a feeble voice to denounce my tribulations, fortune's wrath, fate's fury on my soul. Perhaps God's mercy reprieving me, saving my life, expects me to witness all to some detestable sin, revealing my unworthy wrong, invisible to my remembrance, calling me to confess to what I do not know.
Joseph: I have been blemished with unseen afflictions, evident only on hearing my story, calling on no need to warn the uninformed, nothing worth confessing.
Job: What leads the Lord to change, telling ones He has blessed, I will suddenly fling out ones I choose from the gifts of this land, pouring great troubles upon them, suffering them to feel my anger, destroying their complacency, inflicting them with wounds, saddling them with great grief, afflicted with incurable sickness, forcing me to bear unbearable consequences, destroying my home and leaving no one to help in its rebuilding. My children have been taken away, never to be seen again, their shepherds having lost all senses of creation's goodness, leaving no one to seek wisdom from the Lord, no one to offer counsel, discovering false prophets fail all completely, isolating all from reasons to believe, leaving no one to reunite my hope, scattered now in the wilderness of nothingness.
Bystander: Were any of your family deserving of their losses, plundered property, ransacked homes, raping of their souls, blindfolding their existence, sending them to wander, groping around for reality, dismissing any divine life within them, waiting for their blood to be poured into dust, their bodies to rot in the ground? Who cried out to God, claiming injustice, and which one accepted a fated destruction without protest? Which one understood the ways of God? Hear the psalmist say, Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He did for me. For I cried out to Him for help, praising Him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God listens! He pays attention to my prayer. Praise God, who does not ignore my prayer nor withdraw His unfailing love from me. What sorrow awaits those who argue with their creator, knowing He will remove all proud and arrogant ones from among His people, leaving the lowly and humble to thrive, ones trusting in the Lord's name, as He cares for the ignoble, hearing their worries, waiting for the right time to lift them up, honoring the insignificant, as He distances Himself from the proud. Let's hear what wisdom Job will honor with attention.
Job: Joseph and I have both lost dear treasures, the abundance of our toil's efforts, blessings from our unceasing endeavors, sealing our family wealth, maintaining our honor, preserving us as upright citizens, but I have lost more, being inflicted with pain, suffering my body to think of nothing else.
Bystander: You differ from Joseph, distracted by your passion for justification, begging God for signs He will hear you, explaining yourself while getting no response, never understanding your need for constant vindication destroys your soul's integrity, tempting you to lose faith in Him, thinking there was trust in Him to begin with, but your Lord never explains anything, waiting for you to correct perceptions of yourself, never giving discernment for understanding to criticize Him, giving only insights to intercede.
Joseph: God, visiting visions on me, reporting them where appropriate seeming to bring me harm, calls me to be good, even if it means suffering, following His commands to never sin or deceive anyone, committing my responses to Him and never retaliate when insulted, never threaten revenge when suffered by vengeance, leaving all in the Lord's hands, knowing He always judges fairly.
Bystander: Little do upright people know, concealing sins precludes prosperity, confessing iniquities brings comfort, turning away from transgressions promises mercy.
Joseph: My suffering must be to please God, trusting it is right and must continue, obeying the One creating me, convincing me it conforms to fulfillment of His plan, believing I will return to Him and last with Him forever.
Job: I should not suffer trials, punishments from God, when I am blameless, honoring Him by my virtues, upright and devoted to obeying His commands, trusting He does not want me to suffer, tormenting me to improve what I am. Obedience to His laws sanctifies me, but God sometimes needs to remind me of the many and difficult ones to honor. Consider my suffering, reexamine it for further judgment, rescue me instead of believing I must be punished for forgetting His instructions. I argue my case, enlisting the full range of human wisdom, calling on Your full consideration of love, knowing You are a God of mercy, the only One dispensing grace, so I can depend on You to side with me and protect my life as You promised, creating me with innate assurances, oaths transcribed in my being.
Joseph: Although I have lost my freedom, I still cherish my greatest expectation, trusting I can continue life with promises secured by hope. My being, with its body shackled and enslaved in adversity, but free to think openly, trusting my soul can never be bound, is confident nothing can quench my thoughts to know and honor God, trusting Him always, waiting on Him continuous
ly, patiently to know His plans for me, plans for sustaining His goodness, never for any disasters, never intending anyone be subjected to unending slavery. If He assigns me to experience terrors of hell, it will be to show me this would be for His purpose.
Job: With your youth and health intact you have more future than I, making your worth greater, and I will be left here, having no value, even as a slave. With my life having no lasting value, it would be better if it ended soon, seeing my friends have not come to bless me with useful counsel, without any worthwhile suggestions for confronting my creator. It is unlikely I will see you again.
Establishing Joseph’s Servanthood
Bystander: Joseph's circumstances changed, preparing him for unpredictable events.
He was brought to Egypt and presented for purchase at a flourishing slave market. His Ishmaelite traders priced him to be sold for more than a common laborer, and he was sold to an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian selected and trusted for his