The Pits Of Life
by Dan Jones, M.D.
Genesis 37:4,23-33
When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 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.
Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."
He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
Joseph’s brothers, resenting his special status symbolized by the coat, and, likely, resenting Joseph’s attitude about the coat, took his coat from him, told his father he had been killed by an animal, and put him in a pit to await selling as a slave to traders going to Egypt. This was not the result Joseph was expecting as the owner of this special coat. Instead of the coat bringing prestige, the coat led him to the pit of humility.
You may recall some pits in your own life. From my own experience in medical education and medical training, I remember several of those pits. One I vividly remember, was my first night on call as a medicine resident. With great pride, after completing my internship, I began my residency. I was proud in my long white coat indicating my status. On that first night on call, I stood at the bed of a patient in shock. After spending some time evaluating the patient, I couldn’t determine if the type of shock was cardiogenic, hypovolemic, septic or some other type. As I had done many times in the past, in a reflex fashion while scratching my head over this problem, I reached in my pocket for the call list to see who the resident on call might be. It was clear that I needed to ask for help. Much to my amazement and consternation, when I looked at the list, the name I saw was my name. I was the resident on call!
Lord, protect me from pride and teach me your lessons from the pit of humility.
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.
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