Profiles of Obscurity; The Journey
"'Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.' And his brothers listened to him."
It's about 5:50 am and again I am looking at my reflection in the window, ready for the sun to rise. It's cold this morning. For the last couple of nights we've slept with the air-condition on, but last night it was back in the 30's again. Spring is turning out to be beautiful here though. I love the sights and sounds of the neighborhood as the world around me once again awakens from it's slumber. I've been told that Augusta is known for the azaleas that erupt into bloom all over the city this time of year.
Lynn and I have moved around so much over the years that we've had many opportunities to experience the change of seasons in a new part of the country. So far I'm enjoying the advent of spring as we're on this leg of the journey.
This morning I read about Joseph's journey and a lot of questions came to mind. After his brothers threw him into the pit they had a change of heart through the conscience of Judah. Instead of shedding the blood of a brother the decided to just eliminate the problem of living with a dreamer by sending him away to a foreign land. As a caravan of traders passed through the brothers sold Joseph to be carried into Egypt as a slave, never to be heard from again. And at this point Joseph's story is abruptly interrupted.
Chapter 37 ends with Joseph the boy, now in Egypt, being sold to Potiphar who was Pharaoh's bodyguard. Chapter 38 changes focus all together with a story about one of Joseph's brothers. And then we rejoin Joseph's story in chapter 39 but he has grown into a man as several years have passed. This vividly shows us a season of obscurity for Joseph. The details of the journey to Egypt and the next several years of his life are not even recorded for us.
I am particularly interested in what Joseph experienced emotionally during the journey from Canaan to Egypt. As I think about this I'm reminded of a "vision" of sorts that I had about a year ago. I wrote it in story form and titled it "The Rescue." I wonder if Joseph shared any of the same thoughts of anger, fear, hope, and despair that I expressed in "The Rescue." I'll share it with you here.
THE RESCUE
Have you ever experienced a season in which your heart begins to grow cold and there seems to be an ever-widening distance between you and the Father? Rarely do I ever have what could be considered a "vision" but during my time with God one morning last year, I think I had just that. Let me put it into story form for you.
It was a daring abduction. The enemy, on his horse, had ridden for years to finally arrive at the fortified home of his intended captive, the prince. Gaining access through the fortifications, subduing the prince, and then carrying him away from the castle, across the same distance he had spent years traveling, until finally taking him as a captive into his own dark homeland was the only way the enemy could insure that the prince would be unable to inflict the holy damage that he was capable of inflicting with his Father's forces.
The prince had grown careless; failing to lock the door to his chamber. Taken in his sleep and now shackled as a slave and dragged along the ground behind the enemy's horse - choked and blinded by the dust - he watched the castle grow smaller in the distance as he fought to break free. Finally the castle was gone and the prince, bouncing along the ground, was no closer to being free. The land was desolate; an eternity of barren earth, dangerous rocks, and nothingness seemed to stretch forever into the darkness of all four horizons.
Without end, days turned into weeks which turned into months which turned into years of being dragged behind the enemy's horse, further and further away from the Father's castle - closer and closer to the border of the enemy's territory. The prince remembered life in the castle. The food was rich and plentiful. Music filled the air 24 hours a day and dancers never ceased their dancing. Laughter continually echoed through the atmosphere in which the inhabitants of the castle "breathed" love just as they breathed oxygen.
The prince was overcome by grief as he wondered if he would ever again "breathe" love. Anger was the next emotion as he realized that nobody was coming after him. For what seemed an eternity of being violently dragged toward the abyss, never once did a rescuer ever appear on the horizon. Did the Father miss him? Did the king even realize that an enemy had subtly come and taken hold of his son and dragged him away? With his body tumbling along behind the horse the prince despondently thought to himself, "Maybe I never was the apple of my Father's eye after all."
The border of the dark land was now in sight. It would be only a matter of minutes before this terrible ride would end, the enemy would be home, and the prince would forever be his captive - seemingly out of his Father's reach. All but resigned to this fate and feeling that there was no way his Father could even hear his words, he whispered, "Father...will you come for me?"
The ground began to feel different under his tumbling body. It was as if the earth itself had begun to vibrate, and then shake and tremble under him. The sounds around him were different. Was it thunder? It couldn't be, because it was continuous and growing more intense. And inter-mingled with the sound of thunder was what sounded like the singing of a million voices. His vision blurred by dust, the prince struggled to make out what he was seeing in the distance. In all four directions, it looked as if a flood of...something...was pouring at incredible speed over the hills and across the land in their direction. There was no end to this...mass...as it closed in on them. Finally, the prince began to notice that it wasn't one mass, but it was millions, even billions of individual riders mounted upon strong, perfect horses. Every horse was draped with a sash bearing the coat of arms of the prince's family. It was an army. It was the King's army and it covered the earth as it closed in on them.
For the first time, the enemy's horse stopped, reared up on his hind legs and whinnied in panic as the army closed in. The rider was thrown, and in a few blinding seconds he and his steed were trampled as the land was consumed by this vast army. A hand grasped the prince and lifted him onto the back of one of the billions of war-horses that still stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. This wasn't just one of the war-horses. This was his Father's personal horse. The grip of the hand was familiar too. It was his Father's hand. The king hadn't just sent his army to rescue the prince...he led the charge!
With a shout, the king commanded the entire army to turn and begin the journey back across the land toward home. As they traveled across the land through which the prince had been dragged, he noticed that it was filled with lush grass, wildflowers, streams, butterflies, singing birds. It had become beautiful! Sensing his son's amazement, the father turned and with a wink said, "Don't you remember son? Wherever the river of my presence flows, there is life!"
"Did you begin pursuing me as soon as you realized I was gone," asked the prince?
"No", the King replied. "The army mounted and stood at attention the moment you were gone, but I began the pursuit the moment you asked if I would come for you. I wanted to know that your heart still belonged to me and not your captor. Your journey through the wilderness was required for you to know the depths of the love between us. Though it seemed like the journey was long and the distance between us was great, you were never out of my sight. You were never out of my reach. And I would have never allowed the enemy to accomplish his mission. Welcome home, Son."
In this story, you are the prince (or princess). The enemy desires to lure our hearts away from our Father. When he succeeds, no matter how far he manages to drag us, we are never out of sight or out of reach of our Father and he loves us so much that the angels of Heaven will move on his command to rescue us...if we'll just call upon Him.