Below you will find a study we started that was originally done by Neil Mammen, and can be found on his website at:  NoBlindFaith.com

(Used with permission from author.)

-Matthew

Back in the 80' there was a song that came out by a group called Meat Loaf. Now, I don't recommend that you listen to Meat Loaf but this one song I believe is a very important song with a very important point. And no, I won't sing it, but I'll read you some of the lyrics.

It starts off with this guy singing to the girl that he is with. He says

Then he goes into this story about how many many years ago he was madly passionately and tenderly in love with this other girl. He loved her so much that it hurt. And he concludes his story with

Then the song returns to the present day, and the singer is now singing to his current girlfriend and he says;

"No matter how I try
I'll never be able
To give you something
Something that I just haven't got
There's only one girl that I will ever love
And that was so many years ago
And though I know I'll never get her out of my heart
She never loved me back"
Ooh I know
I want you
I need you
But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you
Now don't be sad
'Cause two out of three ain't bad"

Who will you be in 10 years? This is a very serious question. It's one I have to ask myself all the time. Who will I be in 10 years? Note, I didn't say, Where will I be, note that I didn't even say "What," I said "Who." Who will I be?

How will I have reacted to the pain and the trauma in my life? What will be my response to the pain I feel today? Or to the pain I experienced when I was young?

How do we respond to suffering, how do we respond to our entire life's dreams and goals being shattered into a million pieces. How do we respond to …life?

I have a very close friend who went through a very trying relationship a few years ago. It was a very tragic and traumatic and painful time for him. Even today when you talk to him, and that person comes up in the conversation, you can see the pain in his eyes. We talked about it again a short while ago and he said. "You know the sad thing is that I wonder if I will ever let myself love anyone as much as I loved her. I wonder if I will ever trust anyone that much again. Because I'm afraid to get hurt?"

And isn't that exactly what Meatloaf was singing in his song?

How do we respond to pain? How do we deal with the pain of the past? How do we deal with the pain that our very own families brought upon us? How do we reconcile this pain that God has allowed to happen to us? Why would God do such a thing to us? How do we respond to the fact that our closest dearest friends have abandoned is? How do we deal with the fact that we feel God has abandoned us?

 I used to really like Joshua. In fact if you asked me who was my favorite old Testament character was, I would always say Joshua. That's a nice name. Unusual and nice. Joshua.You see, Joshua never really messed up. He was always doing the right thing. But recently I've started to like one other character in the Bible enormously. His name is very common. His name is Joe. In fact it is so common that there are supposed to be more Joe Smith's than anything else in the US. But my last name is Mammen, so I could never call my kid Joe. He'd end up schizo. Can you imagine: "hey, Joe Mammen."

Let's open our Bibles to Genesis 37.

I'll give you a brief synopsis of what has been happening here. Jacob has 2 wives, 2 concubines and 12 sons, out of these 12 sons came the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was the most loved child of Jacob because he was the first born of Rachel, the love of Jacob's life. Which, results in resentment amongst the other kids.

Then one day Joseph who is 17, has a couple of dreams and in these dreams his brothers and his father all bow down before him. Now if I had a dream like that, you know what, I wouldn't tell anybody about it. But Joseph decides that everyone needs to hear his dream. This ofcourse doesn't win him any popularity contests. And it makes his brothers hate him even more.

Then one day he is sent by his father to go check out his brothers. As he approaches his brothers they see him and like the good brothers they are, they plot to kill him.

Look now at Gen 37:17 and we'll read from there onwards:

Gen 37:17 So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him, 19 "Here comes that dreamer!' they said to each other. 20 "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."

21 When Reuben (his oldest brother) heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe --the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-- 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Here was Joseph, 17 years old, he was kidnapped by his own family, he was sold into slavery. Do you for an instant think that he deserved it? Of course not. Selling someone into slavery is not a valid punishment for telling you about a dream they had? We don't have control over the dreams that we have at night. But what's worse, is this was a dream from God.

Who will Joseph be in 10 years?

Now let's skip to Gen 39

Have you had trauma in your life? Joseph had, at the age of 17 he'd been sold into slavery. Talk about trauma. Talk about feeling abandoned, talk about feeling that God has left you. Yet when we next see Joseph, where is he? The boy who probably hadn't ever had to work too hard in his life is now a slave. Abandoned, rejected, cruelly treated, now not a human being with rights, but a possession. Here's a person who could have immediately claimed that he was a victim.

And yet what happens to him. He rises in the ranks, why? Because he is trustworthy, hard working and responsible? Is that it? Or is it because he has responded to pain by becoming moldable, becoming flexible, accepting the hand of the pruner in his life?

Who will Joseph be in 10 years?

Back now to 39:6

He's still worried about God. He was thrown in to a well and God let that happen to him. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers and God let that happen to him. He was made into a servant in an Egyptian's house and God let that happen to him.

And yet, he asks

how can I sin against God?

Do you see how much trust he still has in God. That line speaks volumes and volumes about his faith in God and his love of God. The psychological torture alone of being sold as a slave into a land far far away would have decimated everybody………. had they taken their eyes off God. And yet Joseph not only has made the best of a horrible situation, but what is he doing? He is praising God for it?

Skip now to verse 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

Let me ask you a question: Who will Joseph be in 10 years?

But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Gen. 40:1 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.

4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men --the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison -had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him in his master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?" 8 "We both had dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to interpret them." Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams."

9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, "In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10 and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his hand." 12 "This is what it means," Joseph said to him. "The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15 For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon."

Then he interprets the baker's dream which is a tragic one, skip to verse 20

Who will Joseph be in 10 years?

So Pharaoh has a dream and no one can interpret it. Then finally 2 years later the Cup-bearer remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh that there was this guy in prison who could accurately interpret dreams.

Now in verse 41:14

So Pharaoh tells him the dream and Joseph tells him that it means that they are going to have 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine; and that Pharaoh should find someone to store 1/5^th of the food during the good years so they will not starve during the bad years.

Now turn to verse 41:38

Now let's go back to when he is tempted by Potiphar's wife. What is his reward for keeping God's word? It's one thing to be punished if you do wrong. But here he was doing the will of God and he's thrown in jail. But not only in jail. He's thrown in a dungeon. He kept God's word and he got thrown in a dungeon. God, I kept your word and this is the reward I get? God, I did what I should have, I did the best I could and this is what you gave me in return? How could you do this to me? Why did you do this to me God? Why? Why? Oh God why?

Have you been in a relationship which was shattered? We all have. I have. Oh God, I loved that person, I loved that person with all my heart, I would have done anything to make them happy. It was even a Godly relationship. Sure it had it's problems, but I had committed to it 100%. God I was all there. And you Lord, you took my heart and you tore it to little shreds.

Wouldn't you have the tendency to feel that God had abandoned you, that you couldn't trust God any more because He did his to you.

Who will I be in 10 years?

In China they have a type of bamboo plant. The bamboo plant remains less than six inches tall the first year. And they water it regularly. The second year the bamboo plant still remains less than six inches and they still water it regularly. The third year it still remains less than six inches tall and they water it regularly. In fact this happens for 5 years. And then in the sixth year the bamboo plant literally grows to over 40 feet over a period of 3 weeks.