Faith in Troubled Times (Pt. 2)

 

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” And his brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So, they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. (Genesis 37:5-8).

 

Forgiveness comes hard when people who do evil believe they have done nothing wrong. In fact, some of the greatest atrocities of written history were committed in the name of a cause or ideal. Today, we still see suicide bombers give up their lives to attack “the Great Satan.” During World War II, millions of Jews died in the name of Aryian supremacy. In the Middle Ages, inquisitions hunted down heretics who seemed to threaten the “purity” of the Roman church, and many people were tortured and killed. In Biblical history, rebellious kings and priests tried to gain power and keep control by killing God’s prophets, including Jesus. Though we don’t know what Joseph tattled about his older brothers, it soon becomes clear that they don’t like him. Far from it, they hate him. Seeing their father’s favoritism for Joseph they hate him even more when he tells them his dreams. Even Jacob, his father rebukes him. There was no room for a relational conversation with the dreamer.

 

It is impossible to get through life in a fallen world without being deeply wounded by someone and by wounding others. When wronged, we often want to get even somehow. But in light of who God is and what He has called us to, we have to get over getting even.

 

Social media has made this terribly destruction behavior even easier. I must admit that I have read posts from others that strike me as offensive and simply wrong. However, I have not responded in kind (at least yet). I have offered to have a non-competitive, relational conversation with folks before, though I have never been taken up on the offer. It seems it’s easier to call names and demean others with slurs and false accusations than it is to relate to one another in an effort to come to a mutual acceptable resolution. What happened to Joseph next was unthinkable. He was sold into slavery, narrowly escaping death. He must have felt abandoned under the crushing defeat of his dreams.

 

Yet this was exactly where God wanted him to be. In every trial, God allows us to go where we need to go and then works it for good. Trust your good-working God today. He has not relinquished control to your enemies no matter how painful or counterintuitive your experience seems.