Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons… and he made him a robe of many colors.”
- Genesis 37:3
I don’t know much about fashion.
My wardrobe consists primarily of a collar, a little gray around the muzzle, and whatever I happen to roll in when nobody’s looking.
But the other morning, my human was reading about Joseph and that famous coat of many colors.
I’ve heard that story before. Joseph gets the coat. His brothers get jealous. Joseph gets thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, tossed into prison…and eventually ends up helping save a nation.
That’s quite a journey for a fellow who started out with a fancy coat.
As I listened, I got to thinking about all those colors.
The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what colors were in Joseph’s coat, but maybe that’s okay. Because looking back over Joseph’s life, I can imagine a few.
Maybe there was red—the color of love. The coat was a reminder that Joseph was deeply loved by his father. And before we go anywhere today, we ought to remember that we are deeply loved by our Heavenly Father.
Maybe there was blue—the color of those days when life feels heavy. Joseph had plenty of them. Pits. Slavery. Prison. Being forgotten. Following God doesn’t mean we won’t have blue days. It means we don’t face them alone.
Maybe there was green—the color of growth. God used every difficult place to grow Joseph into the man he needed to become. Sometimes the places we’re begging God to get us out of are the very places He’s using to grow something in us.
Maybe there was black—those seasons when Joseph couldn’t see what God was doing. I understand that. Sometimes my human walks through the house at night and I follow him even when I can’t see where we’re going.
Why?
Because I know who I’m following.
And maybe there was gold—the color of purpose. Eventually Joseph could look back and say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” - Genesis 50:20
That’ll preach.
Joseph discovered that God could take every color—the bright ones, dark ones, beautiful ones and painful ones—and weave them into something bigger than he could see at the time.
Maybe He’s doing the same with us.
We tend to want a life painted only in our favorite colors.
No pits.
No disappointments.
No waiting.
No scars.
But God sees the whole coat.
Every joy.
Every heartache.
Every victory.
Every failure.
Every open door. Every slammed door.
He’s weaving them together into a story of grace, growth and purpose.
So whatever color today happens to be…keep trusting the One doing the weaving.
After all, the dog doesn’t have to understand where his human is going.
He just has to know who he’s following.
And when it comes to Jesus…
I’m following Him.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
