Joseph - the Hard Journey Begins

 

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. (Genesis 37:1–4 ESV).

 

Redemption comes hard when people who do evil believe they have done nothing wrong. The greatest evils are often committed in the name of a cause or ideal. Today, suicide bombers give up their lives to attack “the Great Satan.” During World War II, millions of Jews died in the name of Aryan 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 Bible times, rebellious kings and priests tried to gain power and keep control by killing God’s prophets—including Jesus.

 

This is the beginning of Joseph’s story. It is the story of redemption. Though we don’t know what Joseph tattled about his brothers, it soon becomes clear that they don’t like him. Seeing their father’s favoritism for Joseph, they begin to hate him. They hate him even more when he describes a dream in which his brothers bow down to him. Even his father rebukes Joseph when he describes another dream in which it seems that his parents and his brothers will bow down to him.

 

Though Joseph may be mostly innocent in all this, it’s not long before his brothers are seething with hatred for him. And hatred, once enraged, is blind to all considerations but its own. Even in this, however, God has sifted the experience about to happen in Joseph’s life to produce good in him and the nation of Israel. Ultimately, this same good will stretch out to all peoples of all races.

 

This is the irrevocable promise of God. Even when you cannot see the future clearly and everything appears dire, God has purpose for every circumstance of life. He is redeeming us and producing the greatest good we could imagine in our lives. Trust Him in all of the parts of your journey!