Men

JOSEPH THE EMOTION CONTROLLED HERO

by GLENN PEASE
05/19/22
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based on Gen. 42:18-38

Three Frenchmen have come to the rescue of fathers who have no pleasure in trying to discover if their baby needs a diaper change. They have invented a little electronic device that fits right into the infant's diaper. As soon as there is any contact with moisture it breaks out with a bubbly rendition of When The Saints Go Marching In. Shall We Gather At The River might have been a more appropriate choice, but whatever the song, you have an immediate warning of wetness.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if men could come up with a device that would warn us when we are all wet in our thinking? When we are seeing life from a false perspective and are down on life, wouldn't it be great if a gizmo implanted in us began to play There Shall Be Showers Of Blessing, and we could thereby be warned that we are all wet and not thinking with the mind of Christ? The song would jolt us into an awareness that we need a change in our perspective to get back on the dry ground and not be drowning in the sea of our self-induced pessimism.

The interesting thing about studying the Bible account of Jacob and Joseph is that the world has changed so much from their day to ours, but human nature has not changed at all. The emotions we see in their lives are just the same as what we experience in our lives today. Everything in the world can change, but emotions stay the same. You have love and hate, and fear and faith. You have the pain of the famine; the pleasure of the feast; the distress and the delight; the regret and the rejoicing, and the guilt and the glory. They are all here in this story, and they bear witness to the truth that God's people experience all emotions.

I know it is a popular myth that the Christian is supposed to experience only the good ones of love, joy, and peace, but unfortunately the Word of God will not support this myth. God's people in the Bible felt every feeling there is to be felt. Look at Reuben in verse 37. He is the first born, and he should be old enough to know better, but he tries to change his stubborn father by extreme emotionalism. He says to Jacob, "You may kill both of my sons if I do not bring Benjamin back." This is really sick, and we see how dangerous intense emotions can be for children. Fortunately, Jacob was not so loony he would agree to such a thing. He could get no pleasure in killing two of his grandsons. He was miserable because of the loss of his sons, and losing more was certainly not a welcome solution to his grief.

What we have here is a case of child abuse because of excessive emotion. I don't know if Reuben's two boys were standing there to hear this or not, but the fact that he would say such a thing reveals the verbal abuse that so many children suffer in our world. Uncontrolled emotions are the curse on children. Parents can be so obsessed with what they think a child should be that they become excessively emotional in the relationship. Joseph Heller in Something Happened tells of angry father who can't stand the way his daughter is and he says, "I have been so enraged with her that I have wanted to seize her firmly by the shoulders, my darling little girl, and shake her and pummel her on the face and shoulders with the sides of both my fists and scream, be happy you selfish little brat! Can't you see our lives depend on it?" That is emotionalism.

Emotionalism was a major problem in the family God chose to be His special people, and they did a lot of damage because of it. Jacob, of course, was a very emotional person, and he gave his boys a bad example of control. We see him in this chapter going all to pieces over his interpretation of events, and it was a totally false view that seemed so valid to him. In verse 36 he says that everything was against him, and he is in a depressed and panic mood. The problem with the emotional family is that they tend to shoot first and ask questions later. Their approach to life is to go by feelings and not reason. Almost all of the sin and folly of God's chosen people was due to letting their emotions be their guide.

Back in Gen. 34 when these brothers heard that their sister Dinah had been raped they became far more evil than the rapist. They devised a plot to kill all of the men in the city where the rapist lived. They carried out that plan with sadistic violence. They not only killed a lot of innocent people, they ruined their own future and the future of their descendents. Commentators all agree that the evidence supports the view that the rape was what we call a date rape, and the two were mutually guilty, but ready to work out a marriage to save face. The emotions of the two hot heads, Simeon and Levi, would not let reason work out the problem. They took control of the situation and turned it into one of the great tragedies of the Old Testament. On his death bed Jacob had to curse them for their fierce anger and deny them the blessing he gave his other sons.

What we see in the Bible is what we see in the world today. We see excessive emotionalism leading to violence and dangerous consequences for all involved. One of the best ways to see the folly of violence due to emotionalism is to see what it has done to God's people in the Bible and in history. When emotions are your guide you can count on going astray. Why do men and women of God make such great mistakes and do damage to themselves and the image of God? It is almost always because they go by their emotions. David was not the only one to fall by his lust. It is the best known example and it lead to a host of suffering for a lot of people, but others have done the same.

Reuben was led by his emotions and he took one of his father's concubines, and this lead to his loss of the rights of the first born. Jacob's boys blew it so often because of their emotions. The reason they are in the mess they are in as we see in our text is because they could not handle their father's emotions toward Joseph. They became all emotional with envy and jealousy, and so they sold their brother into slavery. That is just how cruel people can become when they are under the control of their emotions. The fact that God used their folly for good does not in any way relieve them of their sin and guilt for this abuse.

The message of the Bible and history is this: If you are an emotional person, you have a great responsibility to learn self-control, for the emotional Christian is more likely to make major mistakes and lose their balance. But being emotional is not bad, for Joseph is one of the most emotional people of the Bible. He controlled his emotions, however, and so was also one of the most mistake free people of the Bible. If Joseph would have let his emotions run his life he would have cursed his brothers and vowed his revenge. He finally got the power to make their lives miserable, and he could have thrown them in prison and lost the key, but Joseph was not a slave to his emotions. He refused to let them lead his life. He chose to do what was God's will and what made love triumph over hate. The result is that he is a hero and a great example of how even emotional people can be in control of their emotions.

Joseph faced the test of David and Reuben and a host of others. He had the perfect opportunity to have an affair with Potifer's wife. She was the most willing partner we have any record of in the Bible. Many godly people would have fallen in that same context because they would have let their emotions lead them. Joseph didn't do that, but he fled the scene and paid a heavy price, but he refused to be a slave to his emotions.

When a man can stand before the giants of lust and revenge and defeat them he had gained a greater victory than David did over Goliath. John Powell says what is true of all ages when he writes, "Your emotions and how you deal with them will probably make you or break you in the adventure of life." This is one of the major lessons of the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph grew up in the emotion filled environment. He was conditioned by the emotions that ran rampant through a household with 4 mothers and 12 kids. He could never say with Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse Five, "How nice to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive." The emotionless person is just as dangerous as the excessively emotional person, for they can kill and injure others without feelings of guilt and shame. The goal is not to kill emotions, but to keep them under control so that they are helpful in motivating us to do the will of God.

Emotional people who do not control their emotions are short range thinkers. They do not plan far ahead, but go by the feelings of the moment. God could not have used the other brothers to save the family because they were like this, they act according to how they feel and never give thought to the long range consequences. God's plan to get a Hebrew to the top level in Egypt was a long range plan that took Joseph through the pit of rejection and the prison of endurance before he ended in the palace of power. At any one stage of this progressive journey Joseph could have blown it had he let his emotions be in control. But he refused to forsake the dream and held on to a long range hope, and God used him to change history. Only a man with emotions under control could have lasted long enough to taste the victory God had in store. What did God have planned for Reuben, Simeon, and Levi? We will never know, for they let their emotions run their lives. They did violence that destroyed their future. There was still a part of the people of God, and blest in many ways, but they missed God's best because they could not control their emotions.

A doctor I was reading told of meeting a man while vacationing in Florida. He had found this island in the gulf of Mexico and was so excited. "This is paradise!" he exclaimed, and went on to tell of how he was going to buy some land and build, and end his days there in bliss. Two years later he met this island enthusiast in the city and learned that he had already put his house on the market. He said, "I couldn't stand it. The loneliness would have killed me had I tried to stick it out." Emotional people tend to make a lot of difficult decisions they have to reverse because they make moves that don't last very long. They go by their feelings and their feelings are constantly changing.

Show me a person who gets married every few years and I'll show you a slave to emotions. Show me a person who is constantly changing on a regular basis and I will show you an emotion controlled person. It is hard to be stable when emotions are in control because they are so changeable. Long range commitment to anything or anyone takes the ability to ride out the lows and highs of emotion. The emotion controlled person has no patience and they bail out. This is why Joseph is feeding the world and his brothers are looking for food. They are emotion controlled, but he is in control of his emotions.

The reason the story of Joseph is one of heroism and salvation and not one of murder, adultery and mayhem is because he could see where his emotions were heading and choose to take over and change the speed or the direction. He was in charge of his emotions. He made them work for him, and he fired them when they did not move him toward his God given dream. People who have long range goals that they know are God's will for them will be far less likely to be a slave of emotion than those who just live for the moment and let life happen to them. Commitment to goals will prevent you from being pulled off the path to taste forbidden fruit. But if you are not going anywhere you feel more free to wander and let your emotions lead you off the path.

Joseph had a goal, and like Jesus he set his face steadfastly to march toward that goal and not let his emotions lead him astray. His brothers lived for the moment, and they did what they felt like doing depending on the circumstances. Their logic was, "If it feels good do it." Joseph's logic was, "How will responding to my emotions now effect my reaching my long range goal? I feel like doing this, but I don't have to act on my feelings when I can see they will only hinder the fulfillment of my dream." The thing we need to see is that doing the right and wise thing does not necessarily make you feel better. Doing the wrong thing often makes you feel better at the moment. The hot head brothers no doubt felt relieved after killing innocent people, and after selling their brother that they hated. Reuben, no doubt, felt better after relieving his sexual tension with his father's concubine. If you are going to go by feelings as the measure of value, then folly often feels better, and that is why folly is so common.

Joseph felt terrible when he did what was right. He fled from the bed of adultery and was falsely accused and sent to prison. It had to be a terribly depressing time. All through his act as a stranger to his brothers he was in deep pain as he held back his tears. He is often feeling miserable in his long journey to his dream. He would have felt better had he just exploded and gotten revenge. Doing the right thing did not produce the good feelings for a long time. If feelings are the final measure, then by all means we should do the stupid thing, for that really brings immediate relief and good feelings. To do the right thing could take time and involve the burden of not feeling good at all. People who want to feel good all the time usually do stupid things for the sake of their feelings.

If you worship the god of the age, and feeling is your idol, then whatever the cost to you, your family, and your environment, you pay the price to give feelings first place. If it means violence and prison, so what? You must be loyal to your idol and let feelings reign however great a tyrant they are. People often wonder why the Old Testament is so full of violence, and one of the main reasons is to reveal to all generations just how awful life can be when emotions are gods to be followed whatever the cost. Just think of all the stupid things you would have done if feelings were your final authority.

What we need to see is that every emotion you have is legitimate. If you have lust, that is normal. If you have hate, that is normal. If you feel jealousy and envy, that is normal. If you feel depressed or angry at times, join the club. You can't feel any emotion that is not legitimate. They are all part of the makeup of being human. The point is, they are all valid tools in a complete tool box. They are all appropriate for the right situation. That is why they exist, for they are all good for something. But everyone of them that is not used properly is dangerous and damaging. If you take a hammer to pound in a light bulb, the problem is not the hammer, but the one who is using it for the wrong purpose.

The automobile is a great tool of transportation, but the most dangerous part of it is the nut behind the wheel. If that person begins to use this tool as a means of expressing emotions of aggression or competition, it becomes a dangerous weapon. Every tool used properly under the control of reason is a blessing. Every tool used improperly will be a burden and a curse. Joseph had every emotion that his brothers had, but he was a hero and they are often fools. What is the difference between a hero and a fool? The answer is in the control of their emotions. The fool is in the control of his emotions, but the hero is one in control of his emotions.

Charles Spurgeon in his sermons on men of the Old Testament makes a major point when he comes to Joseph. He points out that being in God's will does not shield a person from any of the emotions of life. God was with Joseph all the way, but did not protect him from the feelings of discouragement, rejection, and fear. God's hand on his life did not screen out the temptation to lust and revenge. It did not help him escape the pain of slander and injustice. Joseph had to live through the alphabet of bot negative and positive emotions. He had to go through the agony of defeat to reach the throne of victory. You don't escape emotions and all the risks they present just because you are a child of God in the will of God. The emotions are the testing ground that reveal you loyalty to God.

The Bible is full of idolatry and all the feelings that go along with it, because that is the great battle of every generation and individual. Do I follow my feelings as the leader of my life, or do I follow Christ and His revealed Word? My emotions are either my guide and god, or they are surrendered to Christ as tools to be used, or not used, depending on their appropriateness to achieve His goals. All tools are good, and none is bad. All emotions are okay, and none is evil in itself. It is in the use that a tool or emotion becomes good or evil. There is no emotion that cannot be an asset if it is used properly, but all of them can lead you astray if they are used wrongly. Joseph is our example, for he was a very emotional man, but he kept them under control, and he used them to get him to the goal that God had for him. He is a great hero because he was a man who had his emotions under control.