That's Not Fair!
by Dan Jones, M.D.
Genesis 39:
2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"
10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
Apparently, God wasn’t finished with the lesson on humility with Joseph. His charisma, good looks, and abilities had landed him in the best possible situation for a slave in Egypt. He was in charge of the household of a high-ranking government official. Life seemed good until he began receiving too much attention from the master’s wife.
To his credit, Joseph resisted her overtures to him. But this made her angry. She eventually punished Joseph for his rebuffs by falsely accusing him of attempted rape. Life was just not fair for poor Joseph.
From my own experience in medical education and medical training, I remember several times feeling life was not fair. One of the times was my first day in the gross anatomy lab. I remember, vividly now, more than thirty years later, that smell when I opened those doors in the gross anatomy lab for the first time. I remember questioning what I had done to deserve having to go through something so difficult emotionally as dealing with a dead body. After all, I had given my life to helping people. I was going to be a prestigious physician. Certainly, I should be treated with more respect and fairness.
My frustration heightened the day I took my first practical exam in the anatomy lab. I was convinced my professor purposefully tagged anatomical parts so vaguely as to make correct identification impossible. I never learned to enjoy anatomy lab, but looking back, I know I learned many valuable lessons there. Some were about anatomy. Some were about humility.
Lord, remind me that life is not always fair and that I am not too good for difficulties.
Dan Jones, M.D., MACP, FAHA, a board-certified Internist, a former medical missionary to Korea, professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Chancellor of the University of Mississippi until 2015. Dr. Dan Jones is a member of CMDA.
Dr. Jones welcomes any comments or questions about what he has written and can be reached at - djones@umc.edu
Rounds with the Master, Spiritual Pearls from the Great Physician Devotionals are released every Monday and Thursday.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
