WHAT'S THE USE?!

“What’s the use?!”

I began to understand how my older brothers might have felt.  Dad and mom are so busy with little Ben, that I seem to be invisible.  And, my brothers just laugh and make fun of me, telling me to grow up.  I obey them, am polite and respectful, try to help around the home; but, “what’s the use” I hear begging in my heart.  But, I decided to try even harder!

Dad noticed and grinned about my redoubled efforts.  I KNEW I was special, I thought.  He even gave me a special coat, that nobody else got, not even Ben.  But that just “pissed off” my brothers. (oops, did I say that?  Well – they all say such and nobody seems to care?)  I can’t prove it, but I know that  I, MYSELF, did not get donkey crap on my new coat.  And, they put in the armpits – NOT an accident.  My sense of fairness began to beg, “what’s the use?”

But, God is MY friend!  He game ME dreams about wheat shocks and stars bowing down to me.  My brothers, sure -- but, even dad did not get it.  They all got mad at me.  And, I began to arrogantly wonder, “what’s the use?”

All my crude, ignorant brothers were doing field work, and dad told me to leave the tent and check on them.  As always, I did as told, and off I went.  No telling where the ten were.  They saw me coming, but they seemed meaner than usual.  They weren’t laughing.  I woke up in a pit.  I could hear them arguing whether to kill me or sell me, as a slave!  As I rode away with the slave-traders, a little voice questioned, “what’s the use?!”

Well, you play the cards dealt.  A nice enough foreigner bought me and got the good out of me.  He noticed my hard work and success, and even promoted me.  You can imagine how the other slaves felt about me.  It never stops.  “What’s the use?” echoed in my head.

But, it gets worse – the other slaves were green-eyed, but the master’s wife was moon-eyed!  I avoided her, refused her, even preached to her.  Let me tell you, a spurned “cougar” is a mean animal!  All my boss’s respect and trust were lost – and I was taking the high road!  That little voice challenged heaven, “what’s the use?!”

Sitting in a foreign jail, repeatedly the question came, “what’s the use?”  But, I struggled on, and even there, success came.  I helped others, only to be forgotten by them!  “what’s the use” chimed out.

After a few years, I got the strangest demand – “clean up – Pharaoh wants to see your stinking …”  This couldn’t be good.  What’s next? Death?  “what’s the use?”  I could give myself a more merciful death than Pharaoh.  But, I did as told.

                God gave me the answer, the insight, the plan, the wisdom, the skill.  I told Pharaoh of the famine years looming ahead.  We put our emergency plan into action; for seven years we stockpiled.  About two years into the famine, I quietly wondered, “what’s the use?” – “I am just helping these foreigners, my captors,” I mused.

                Then they showed up, the ten.  I knew them; but, they did not recognize their brother.  Their lives were in my hands.  I toyed with them and teased with a taste of vengeance.  But a calm voice whispered, “what’s the use?”

                Like a bolt of lightning from out of the heavens it hit me!!  “what’s the use?” was answered.  I mouthed words sent from beyond me, “you meant evil; but God meant good.  HE sent me here to preserve life!”    . . .    I have had to reassure them of this more than once.  They cannot see beyond their own smallness and meanness.  But, of this, I am sure.  Never doubt it.  Believe it!