Bring Me My Coat

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. Genesis 37:3 NKJV

Ooh Wee, are you having your share of that wintery mix friends? When I got up this past Monday morning, I started by looking at some of my local news, but it wasn’t telling me much, so I looked out the peep hole on the front door, and all I could see was a blanket of white snow. I then tightened my robe a little tighter, telling myself, I aint going out there. This was going to be a stay-at-home kind of day. However, if I had to go out, I got my coat and accessories to help keep the chill off. As I think about our lesson on Joseph’s coat of many colors, I asked myself what does a coat do? Its job is to protect and cover. Let’s investigate this story shall we.

When Joseph was 17 years old, his father Jacob gave him a beautiful coat. However, this coat came with plenty of obstacles.  I see it like a soap opera right off your television screen. It has all the Young and the Restless drama, plenty of Days of our Lives jealousy, a large amount of All my Children betrayal, and its share of young bratty kids, yes, I am talking about General Hospital.

Joseph was conceived in Jacob’s old age and the coat of many colors symbolized favor.  It was also the beginning of sibling rivalry brought about by the favoritism Jacob showed Joseph. My grandparents had 8 children; growing up I remember asking my grandmother who was her favorite child was. She told me, all of them. My grandmother went on to explain to me, that she had enough love for each and every one of them and that her love was never going to change.

Joseph had the coat for a little while but there were several things that lead to the coat getting destroyed.  It would be safe to say the brothers saw him perhaps as a bit of a tattle tale. As he would bring bad reports back to their father about them. Joseph would also tell his brothers about his dreams showing they would bow down to him one day, suggesting Joseph would rule over them. Can you see how this could be perceived as a unary moment by Joseph, as he rubbed his dream in their faces?  Which only led to them hating him even more.

Again, Jacob sent Joseph out to the fields to check on his brothers as they work. Remember, Joseph had already brought back one bad report about some of his brothers, so they weren’t happy to see him coming. They came up with a plan to kill him when he arrived. However, the oldest brother, Reuben, talked them into throwing him into a pit instead of murdering him. But before Reuben could rescue him out of the pit, his brothers sold him to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.

Now that the deed was done, what would they tell their father? They dipped the robe in slaughtered goats’ blood and brought it to their father, asking him to identify it. Their father did see it was his son Joseph’s coat thinking a fierce animal had devoured him and he was torn to pieces.

In the end Joseph took the way up. After the death of their father, Joseph’s brothers were afraid that Joseph would seek his revenge on them. But he was not that attention seeking kid anymore, he was a changed man. Friends when life doesn’t seem fair, consider His response to his brothers:

 “Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:19-20 NIV

It’s a reminder to me to continue to keep my seat and save my energy for prayer, worship, and praise. Into God’s capable hands do I put my everything.  No matter what life’s weather may bring, God has the right kind of coat for every season in our lives. Amen!

Remember friends, we are each other’s keeper and the only time we should be looking down on someone is when we are helping them up.