By Ashlee Price
Joseph’s cries for help were unheeded as he was picked up and hurled into the dark well. It happened so fast that he hardly knew what was happening until he felt himself falling, falling, falling…
He finally landed sharply on his back at the bottom of the well. The impact stole his breath, and it left him winded and in pain. But there was no one there to save him. He was all alone. It took him a few moments to regather his thoughts. When he realised the sad reality of his situation, fear and despair crept into his heart, yet with his voice he cried out to God, who had always been his safe place.
“Lord, please save me. I am so scared and alone and I am afraid I will never get out of this hole. But I know You are with me no matter where I am, and so long as I have You watching over me, I will be safe.”
Once Joseph had finished saying his prayer, he curled himself up into a ball and closed his eyes to go to sleep in the bottom of the well. He felt better after telling God how he felt and for asking Him for strength to endure whatever may come to him. He thought that the safest thing he could do now was go to sleep, even though it was the middle of the day. But sleep did not come as quickly as he had planned. Angry and vengeful feelings nibbled at the edges of his mind, but he refused to give in. The spiders and lizards that crawled over his face in the dark well made it even more tempting to hate his brothers for what they had done to him, yet he remembered that God still counted hatred to be murdered. So Joseph swiped the unwelcome creatures off his face and banished the thoughts from his mind, and finally, sleep came to him.
Something tickled Joseph’s arm. He awoke with a start. “What was that?”
He sat up, his toes touching the small puddle of water that was left at the bottom of the well. He squinted in the dark, attempting to look for the object that woke him up.
“You, down there!” a man’s voice yelled.
Joseph looked up, way up, to the very top of the well, where a tiny stream of light was flowing into his dark surroundings. Could there really be someone up there calling my name? He wondered with disbelief.
“Yes?” Joseph called back.
“Get the rope. We’re getting you out of here.” The voice ordered.
Joseph’s heart soared with hope. He joyfully clung to the rope as the man outside pulled him up up up and out of the well. But Joseph’s face fell when he saw the greedy look in the man’s eyes as he emerged from the pit. Confusion swarmed his brain, questions flooded in as he glanced around at the group of Ishmaelite traders who were standing around him. Who were these men? Where did they come from? Why were they here? The men and their donkeys had been travelling past Joseph’s brothers when the brothers sold the favoured child to the foreign strangers.
“Brothers!” Joseph cried as the traders grabbed his arms and pulled him towards their travelling procession. “Help me!”
But the brothers just stood by with arms folded across their chests, some looking worried and others turning away in guilt. When Joseph saw there was no turning back, that he was going to be sold to strangers in the foreign land of Egypt, grief and terror overtook him. Would he ever see his beloved father again? He would be all alone in a world he had never known. His childhood had been shielded and spoilt because of his father’s favouritism towards him, and now he must learn to provide for himself and live in a place where he would not be loved and cherished by anyone. Fears arose in his heart, but in his mind, his thoughts turned towards all that he had learnt to grow up about the God of heaven.
PICTURE CREDIT – FreeBibleimages
