Page 32 - The Road from Babylon to Zion

Chapter 4 - The Peril of Self-Pity

There is a particular peril on the road from Babylon to Zion that I have struggled
with, and which I must continue to remain on guard against. It is the peril of self-pity.
I often feel the tug of it’s cloying tentacles as it manifests it’s desire that I should wrap
myself around in it’s satisfying embrace. But the Father has warned me of the peril
of this indulgence, and He has revealed how many Overcomers have in the end been
hindered from making further progress due to this peril.

A year ago I wrote an article about what the Father had revealed to me of this matter,
and much of this chapter will be drawn from that writing. Self-pity is a most hideous
peril for it finds a great appeal to our soulish emotions and mind, and it would lead
us to direct our will to do things that are rebellious and evil in the Father’s sight.

Those who have suffered the most due to their obedience to the will of the Father are
often the ones who have the greatest struggle with this peril. Those who have faced
the greatest foes and risked the most for the Kingdom are often undone in the end by
this subtle evil that lurks in the flesh of mankind. The Father has given us examples
of those who have overcome this peril. One who inspires me greatly is Joseph, the
favorite son of Jacob.

Consider Joseph. When he was a youth he was given dreams of what lay ahead in his
life. He dreamed that all of his brothers, and even his father and mother, would bow
down before him. He dreamed that God would raise him to an exalted position. His
brothers were already jealous of him, for it was evident to them all that their father
preferred him over the rest. Upon hearing these dreams they were further incensed
and inspired to act out of envy toward him.

One day when Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers as they were tending the
flocks, they saw him coming from a distance and they conspired among themselves
to act wickedly and to slay Joseph. Reuben, the oldest of the brothers, talked them
out of this evil, but instead the brothers decided to sell him as a slave to some passing
Midianites who were heading to Egypt. Despite the tearful pleas of their brother, they
cold-heartedly sold him into slavery, and Joseph was carried away into a foreign land.

I cannot imagine the agony of Joseph’s soul. He was rejected in the most cruel
manner by his brothers and he was removed from the father whom he loved. Once
the favored son of his wealthy father, he became a slave in a land where no one knew
him and where he had no rights. Certainly there was much to be pitied in Joseph’s
situation. Life had taken a cruel and unjust turn and there was no explanation for
any of it.

We know that Joseph was sold to Potipher, the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard, and