Confined but Compassionate
“Joseph … looked at them, and saw that they were sad.” (Gen 40:6)
Despite his own difficulties and personal pain Joseph was not insensitive to the state of others. He wasn’t so self-absorbed or consumed with self-pity that he failed to feel pity for these men particularly as they presented themselves to him that morning.
Joseph, in an exhibition of his compassion on them, as well as a testimony to his continued faith in God, offered to help them.
It was an evangelistic compassion in that he sought to turn their thoughts from man to the true God, to where true hope and help was to be found. He alone knows what will happen, and alone can avert the evils we dread or turn them to our comfort.
It was also a pastoral compassion – seeking to bring hope and relief to the one, but also honesty and opportunity to the other. It’s truly heroic nature is brought out when we see his response to the Baker’s dream. Whereas the Cup-bearers dream spoke of release in 3 days’ time, this one spoke of death in 3 days’ time.
Now moved with a genuine sympathy and compassion for a person – what would you do? How many in similar situations have minimised the bad news, in a desire to not distress but to keep their spirits up until the very last moment. But this is not true compassion for it robs the dying of time to get their affairs in order, to say farewells to their family and grieve with them, but above all it robs them of the time and urgency to prepare their souls before God.
Joseph was not driven by a false compassion that softened the truth of the word of God! What a lessen to us – there are sometimes hard things to say from God’s Word to others – and though we should do so with transparent compassion, it must not never be a softening of the truth!
Where is our compassion to others? Yes we may be hurting, but do we see beyond ourselves to the needs of others. How are we seeking, without minimising their sense of hurt, to help people suffering to look outside themselves, encouraging them to also be a help to others.