Their shoes

Some things came up yesterday. News from a couple of people that took my breath away. And not in a good way. I felt like Job’s friends just sitting with them in silence, feeling their pain. I put myself in their shoes and tried to understand what it felt like for them.

Thankfully, I did not take it to next level like Job’s friends and tell them why it happened and how they could fix it. I mean really, who needs that?

I’ve been reading the Bible this way recently too. Putting myself in the story by putting myself in the person’s shoes.

I listened to a podcast and the pastor was talking about Genesis 37. Joseph and his brothers. 17 year old Joseph, his coat of many colors, his dreams, and how his brothers hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

The brothers went off to take care of the flocks. Israel, his dad, sent him to go check on them. When they saw him they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

So they did just that. Grabbed him, took off his coat and threw him in the cistern. Then they sat down to eat their meal.

This is where I put myself in their shoes. How far gone must I be to want to kill my brother, throw him in a cistern, then sit down to eat? Am I that cold-hearted? Because I can also picture Joseph in the cistern yelling out to them. “Hey guys, what are you doing? Let me out of here!”

But then they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming, and decided to sell him off as a slave. With Joseph once again questioning them, “Wait, what are you doing now? Please don’t do this! Come on guys, this is not right!” How that must have felt for Joseph. I can feel his pain and it saddens me.

But now the brothers have to cover their tracks. Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Examine it and see it if it is your son’s? Really?! I guess that way they are not actually directly telling him a lie, just letting their poor dad draw his own conclusion.

Seriously, how cold is that?! Not caring about how this would affect their father. I now put myself in Israel’s shoes, grieving and mourning the death of my son being ripped apart by an animal. How do I get that image out of my head as I go about my day, or when I lay down to sleep at night?

Now fast forward 20 years, when Joseph finally sees his brothers again. During that time he has gone through some hardships, but the phrase “and the Lord was with Joseph.” It is mentioned four times. Each instance highlights God’s presence and favor in Joseph’s life during his challenges and successes.

Joseph has matured in the Lord, but still tests his brothers to see if they’ve changed any first, before he reveals himself to them.

He recognizes his brothers, though they don’t recognize him, and he instructs them to bring their youngest brother to Egypt. Thinking Joseph can’t understand them, they speak about what they’d plotted and covered up so many years ago. “Then he turned away from them and wept.”

When he prepares to reveal himself to his brothers. He orders everyone else to leave the room: “And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.”

I put myself in his shoes again and am overcome with emotion too. Twenty years thinking about this and now he is face to face with them. How would I feel if in the same place?

But he tells them, God meant this for good, He sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Which reminds me that God does this for me too. I may be going through circumstances I cannot understand, but I remind myself I don’t need to understand, I just need to trust Him. Him understands and that is good enough for me. He knows what He is doing and loves me and has only the best planned for me.

Putting myself in someone else’s shoes shows me I am not alone, and others have gone through and are going through stuff too. It gives me comfort that God knows and will take care of me, and allows me to be a comfort to others too.

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