All over the world, without warning and apparently without having done anything themselves particularly to deserve it, men and women are faced with difficult, almost unthinkable situations. Many of them declare with stout hearts, and perhaps some human pride, "We can take it." But taking it from a human standpoint, and being willing to learn how to handle these untoward situations from the standpoint of Christian Science, are two different things.
The experiences of Joseph, as recorded in the early chapters of Genesis, reveal a man who had learned to "take it." Early, however, he must have recognized something of his true selfhood and identified himself with this correct concept of man. Love, as divine Principle, not human feelings, was the basis of his demonstration. This is the reason he could "take it." Various strategies of evil were brought to bear in his experience, yet each would-be operation of evil was dispelled, and the truth of his being, or his spiritual identity, was revealed by his clear, consistent expression of his oneness with divine Love and its essential qualities.
Joseph was greatly beloved of his father, Jacob. In the flowering of this human affection, Jacob bestowed upon him a coat of many colors, and this was the first thing of which Joseph was stripped. The fact that Joseph survived this loosening of the ties of human affection without succumbing to self-pity and annihilation was the first evidence he gave of knowing how to overcome the problem. He must have become definitely aware of his spiritual selfhood, which could not be attacked, robbed, or depleted.
