WEDNESDAY 2nd
Genesis 37:12-36
NIV (v4) – ‘When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.’
ESV (v4) – ‘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.’
The story of Joseph is a fascinating one. For those of us who went to Sunday school, it is a story we will recall about a dreamer, a coat of many colours, jealous brothers, a pit, a prison, and the palace. It is a story that reminds us that God is in control, and despite what may seem like our circumstances working against us, God is there, God is bringing about that which is his sovereign plan, for us personally and in the world generally. For as we look at the life of Joseph, his circumstances had an outcome that affected he himself, the wellbeing of nations, (provision and plenty during famine) of his family and of course eventually the nation of Israel.
One minute, Joseph is standing tall and proud in the magnificent coat his father has given him, off on an errand of kindness taking provision to his brothers who are out in the fields tending the flock, and the next he is stuck down in the bottom of an empty pit, despised by his brothers and coatless. One minute he is doing what his father has asked, the next he is sold as a slave to do what the Egyptian taskmasters command him to do. But God was with him, God was in control.
None of us will ever go through the same kind of exceptional circumstances that Joseph went through, but we will all go through our lives with our own set of difficult circumstances, we may have those around us who despise us or may even be jealous of us, we won’t be thrown into a pit as Joseph was, but we may have circumstances that will throw us into a pit of despair, and there may be times when we feel that others are treating us with disrespect, even treating us as if we were their slaves, we may feel lonely and rejected at times, we may wonder what on earth is lying around the next corner, at times we may feel that we cannot face another week or another day like the one we have just gone through, we may feel lost and hopeless at times, but we need to keep reminding ourselves that God is with us in the midst of the circumstances, God is in control, and what we see as tough or difficult moments, what we see as dark and gloomy tunnels, what we see as exceptionally difficult circumstances, are all part of God’s weaving and working out his plan and his purpose, and they are circumstances that we should allow or use to bring us closer to God, to strengthen us, to make us determined to keep going knowing that God is working everything out for the good of those who know him and who are his called, his family.
The Grand old Duke of York was sometimes up, sometimes down, and sometimes only half way up or down, and when we are up, God is with us, when we are down, he is still with us and when we are only half way up or half way down, he is still there alongside us, he will never let us go. And Joseph, must have often wondered where God was in his circumstances, the answer was that God was there right beside him and as you consider your circumstance at this moment whatever they are, remember God is there with you.