Joseph – from pride to humility
Series: Like you and me | Bible text: Genesis 37:1–11
Joseph had dreams at the age of 17 that would actually come true thirteen years later. From his dreams to his destiny, there were many tests and challenges to pass. One of them was the pride test. God helped him to become a humble person.
From the first meeting between Jacob and Rachel he knew: for this woman I am ready to give everything! Laban, Rachel’s father, knew how to take advantage of this and made him work for him for seven years. Then the wedding. But when Jacob lifted the veil of his wife, the shock was deep. It was the wrong woman. Leah, the sister of Rachel. On his promise that he would work off the bride price of seven years again, Jacob was also allowed to call Rachel his wife after the wedding week. Now he had two wives at once, but he loved Rachel more than Leah.
Then it started with children. Six sons and a daughter by Leah, two sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, two sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid, no children by Rachel. Thanks to help from natural medicine, she became pregnant after a long wait and suffering: Joseph was born! Much longed for by Rachel and Jacob. At the birth of the second son, Benjamin, Rachel died (Genesis 35:18).
In chapters 37 – 50 of Genesis, the dreamlike story of Joseph is described. Read the Bible text: Genesis 37:1–11 NL.
Proud dreams
Based on history, it is understandable that Joseph became Jacob’s favourite son, but in doing so he did him a disservice and gave him a bad start in life. Because his father loved him more, he became proud and arrogant. For that, he was hated all the more by his eleven brothers. Having eleven brothers against you means many difficulties. At 17, Josef was a spoilt daddy’s boy with airs and graces. He was a diamond in the rough. Michelangelo was asked how he managed to chisel such wonderful statues from a block of marble lying in front of him. He carved the world-famous statue of David from a block of marble. His answer was: «I knocked away everything that didn’t belong to David.»
Joseph told his brothers his proud dreams. In the first dream, the sheaves of the brothers bowed down to Joseph’s sheaf; in the second, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. This meant mother, father and the brothers. «Joseph’s brothers were jealous of Joseph. But his father thought about the dream»(Genesis 37:11 NL). Joseph had great visions but an immature, problematic character. He was a «fluff goof». God loves to deal with people the way Michelangelo did with the block of marble. Everything that does not belong, he works away.
The interesting thing about Joseph is that his dreams – thirteen years later – should actually come true. Over a long thirteen years, God worked intensively with and on Joseph so that he could become the man who saved his people from certain starvation. God tested Joseph and moulded him. The English word testamony translates as Testimonial. Those who pass the tests receive a good report card at the end. But the road from dream to destiny took thirteen years. I notice that young theology students are often told at the training centres that they will make history and God will do great things with them. Unfortunately, however, little is said about the thirteen-year path full of tests.
That’s what we want too. We want to live a meaningful life. We want to use our gifts for something great. Young people have big dreams. We want a legacy to be left behind once we are gone. God sees a Margrit, a Ralf, a Ruth, an Ernst, etc. in the marble blocks before him. God wants you to grow so that you can take on more responsibility. God sees in you a person who can lead a meaningful life. Unfortunately, we often refuse to take the tests and lose sight of the dreams. This is a tragedy.
Effective therapy
«God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble! Therefore, humbly bow under the hand of God, and He will honour you when the time comes.»(1 Peter 5:5 NL). Joseph had another person in addition to his brothers to oppose him. God! God is a wonderful artist, even better than Michelangelo. He treats Joseph through various tests: the pride test, the loser test, the success test, the stress test, the endurance test and the forgiveness test. The goal is humility – such as Moses had. It is said of him that he was the humblest man on earth (Exodus 12:3). Therefore Moses enjoyed a special privilege: «With him I speak personally, directly and not in riddles! He sees the Lord in his form»(Exodus 12:8a NL).
How can a person become humble? Humility is not part of the fruit of the Spirit that grows by itself when we are united with Jesus. It goes like this: «Before the fall, a man’s heart is proud; and before one comes to honour, one must be humble»(Proverbs 18:12 Lut). While still on holiday, my brother-in-law told me about the Chranzeberg single trail, which requires an advanced riding technique. I smiled superiorly when he said he didn’t know if I was going down there and announced my visit. In the meantime, I fell on the Rigi. Now I’m not so sure whether I’ll just whizz down there – just like that. Falls are not pretty. They get us off our high horse. Many a fall was part of Josef’s therapy. First the brothers threw him into a cistern. Then he was sold to Egypt. There he was thrown into prison completely unjustly and simply forgotten.
When God works on our pride, he certainly does not want to make us a snail. But falls will happen that do not suit us: Deferments, strokes of fate, illness, accidents, injustices. It is said that people show three reactions in particular: Fight, Flight or Freeze (apathy). We urgently need a fourth response and are to see in «falls» God’s ways through which he makes us more the person who finds his purpose. We need to learn to see in our falls opportunities to grow in humility. God wants to shape us into people whose proud dreams come true. Unfortunately, we don’t realise it, resist it and get caught up in an insignificant life that is all about maximising pleasure and minimising suffering.
Liberating humility
Humility has nothing to do with being a grey little mouse or having a loser image. Even with Jesus, it was a condition for him to be able to do his supremely significant calling, namely to reconcile people to God and offer them an eternal home with the Father. «He renounced everything; he assumed the lowly position of a servant and was born a man and recognised as such. He humbled himself and was obedient unto death»(Philippians 2:7f NL). We are to emulate this example.
Humility – this word is hardly understood today. Today, everything revolves around self-realisation, self-dramatisation and I, I, I.… Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride means I can do it, I am important, I am the best. It’s all about me. But be careful, humility is not to be confused with self-pity. Self-pity is basically the same as pride. Because it goes out there, «Oh, I’m so poor, I can’t do anything, I have nothing.» The gaze is also on me. Humility is fundamentally different. Humility means: I do not look at myself, but at God and submit myself to God. For humility, we need to know who God is and who we are. Humble people look at the world with different eyes. Not they themselves are the centre around which everything must revolve, but God. «Do nothing out of self-interest or for vain honour, but in humility respect one another above self.»(Philippians 2:3 NL). A humble person can ask for forgiveness, he can admit his weaknesses, he can handle praise and criticism, he respects others more than they respect themselves, he can serve others and finds his way into a life in the power of God. He finds his destiny.
Joseph was hammered and polished. When he was 17 and told his brothers his dreams, it was all about him and his honour. In his world view, he was in the middle and everything revolved around him. Many years later, he was to interpret the dreams of the baker and the cupbearer. He says: «Only God can interpret dreams»(Genesis 40:8 NL). In a dream interpretation for Pharaoh he means: «It is not in my power to do that, Your Majesty,» Joseph replied, «only God can. But he will surely announce something good to you» (Genesis 41:16 NL). Joseph got a completely new, a humble mindset.
The following story is about a humble person: During the inhumane Cultural Revolution in China last century, a doctor and his wife were also arrested. They had managed to carry a Bible through all the interrogations. Heavy physical labour sapped their strength. In dark times, they thought God had forgotten them. The wife of a brigade leader had been pregnant six times. Each time she miscarried. On the seventh occasion, the doctor was called in to act as an obstetrician. The child was born alive, but became very ill a few days after birth. The doctor was asked to help again. He wondered if he should help people who had shown many times that they hated Christians. Driven by the knowledge that Jesus wants us to love even our enemies, the doctor agreed to help. But how? He had no medicine. So he knelt with his wife before the parents and child and asked for the help of his Lord Jesus. The prayer was answered. The child got well. The imprisonment of the doctor and his wife was relieved, but not lifted. Only after 27 years were the two released.
If the doctor had felt proud animosities towards the brigade leader, he could not have saved. A proud Joseph could not have saved his brothers. As already said, even Jesus was only born with humility. the saviour of the people. Great dreams, if they are from God, always have to do with saving people. For that we need a humble heart. «The LORD will give grace to the humble»(Proverbs 3:34 Lut). Why has Christianity become so weak and meaningless? Certainly not because Jesus would not call people for greater things. It is probably because we do not accept the «falls» to humility.
Jesus says: «Come to me, all of you […] I will teach you, for I am humble and kind, and your soul will find rest with me.»(Matthew 11:28f NL). If we accept this invitation, we learn from Jesus. He is the one who brings our dreams into reality. Humility is a prerequisite for being salt and light in this world.
Possible questions for the small groups
Reading the Bible text: Genesis 37:1–11
- What dreams did you have for your life when you were young? What have they turned into?
- Why didn’t God just give Joseph the dream 13 years later?
- What is pride? What is humility? How do you learn humility?
- Why does the realisation of our dreams often only happen after we have practised humility?
- Do you know a person you would describe as humble?
