When God Takes Away the Coat
Joseph, identity, and discovering who we really are
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There are moments in life when something we have always assumed would be there suddenly disappears.
A career comes to an end. A child leaves home. A relationship changes. Retirement arrives. A role that has shaped our identity for years is no longer ours.
At first, the loss can feel much bigger than the thing itself. It is not simply that we have lost a job, a position, or a responsibility. It can feel as though we have lost the person we were.
The truth is, for years, we have built a story about ourselves around certain things. The work we do. The people who depend on us. The recognition we receive. The abilities we have developed. The contribution we believe we make. Over time, these things can begin to feel like who we are.
Then, sometimes unexpectedly, those things are taken away.
And a question begins to surface.
Who am I now?
It is a question Joseph may have understood better than almost anyone.
Before Joseph became the powerful leader who saved Egypt from famine, before he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, and his brothers came before him seeking help, he was simply a young man standing in a field while everything that seemed to define him was taken away.
And strangely, the first thing his brothers removed was not his freedom.
It was his coat.
