Profiles of Obscurity
It's 5:50 am. I've been up for about 20 minutes and most of that time has been spent rubbing my eyes, trying to wake up. This is a routine I've tried to maintain for several months now; rising at 5:30, fixing my coffee, and spending the next hour in the reading room praying and reading. Some days I'm successful in this discipline, some days I can't lift myself from the bed.
I'm changing my routine a bit. Whereas before I would sit in the recliner covered with an afghan reading, now I will spend this time at the desk writing as I read.
The sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon and the features of the backyard are barely visible through the window. Mainly I see darkness and my reflection staring back at me in the glass. My hair is a mess and there are circles under my eyes. It rained last night; just a little. It's too dark to see the wetness outside, but I remember waking up a few hours ago hearing the drops of rain hitting the skylight.
I've been kind of jumping around in the Bible during my reading time. I read the Gospel of Matthew, then began Mark but a few chapters in decided to jump back to 1st Samuel. I've decided however on a new subject of study and that is the lives of those men and women in the Bible who found themselves in seasons of intentional obscurity. I'm comforted to note that most of the heroes of the scripture went through this very thing at some point after they had heard God's call on their lives. Men like Joseph, Moses, Elijah, David, Jesus, and Paul all experienced a time of intentional obscurity. This comforts me because it indicates that this season is often a necessary element in the growth of a person into the man or woman God designed and called them to be.
Today I'm beginning with Joseph of the Old Testament. His story begins in Genesis 37 and in this first chapter I see these dynamics at work in Joseph's life: He is born into a wealthy polygamist's family alongside sons of his father's other two wives. He was the favorite son of the father which made him most despised by his brothers. And then came the dreams. As a young boy Joseph had dreams of greatness; dreams given to him by God. He dreamed on two separate occassions that one day his entire family would bow down before him.
I imagine that in his youth these dreams gave him great satisfaction that one day the brothers who hated him would bow before his greatness, his authority. This reminds me of daydreams I myself have had throughout the years. I remember a time when I worked for a very difficult company to work for and desperately hated my job. You know what I would daydream about? Buying the company and then ruling over everyone who was making my life difficult. I've also had these daydreams about individuals who were causing me grief in my life. I would daydream about somehow being elevated to a position of authority over them that would allow me to passive-aggressively exact my revenge...all in Christian love of course. I believe Joseph, in his youth may have derived some of the same satisfaction from his dreams.
But Joseph's dreams were from God. In his youth he boasts to his brothers and parents about one day being in a position of power over them. But as a grown man you see the fulfillment of those dreams, but instead Joseph's elevation to power was not for him to exact revenge or vindication for how he was treated as a boy. His elevation to power was so that he could serve, provide for, minister to, and rescue his family from famine.
Position, power, and authority given by God is never given so that we may rule over someone else. It is always given so that we will have the means to take off our shirt and give it to the man who has none. If we are ever given an abundance of bread, it is not so we can grow fat but it is always given so that we will walk into the streets and give it to the hungry. If a kings scepter is ever placed in our hands it is not so we can recline on our throne and be served by the peasantry, it is so we can have the authority to spread love, kindness, justice and provision throughout the land.
How did Joseph get from the place of pridefully boasting about his dreams to the place of living them out as they were meant by God to be lived out in service to his family? Intentional obscurity was the chisel that shaped him into a man who could not only dream the dreams of God, but live them out with the love, righteousness, and integrity of the God who gave them.