This is an excerpt from my book...
"Surviving Life's Mud Puddles"
Chapter 4 (Perspectives from a Ditch)
Revenge
(Genesis 37)
Have
you ever been on a road trip before? Some
trips are fun while others can be frustrating depending on how long you are
traveling and who is traveling with you.
My kids drive me crazy when we are traveling. My husband and I constantly hear... “Are we
there yet? How much further? When will we ever get there?” I’m sure I
probably asked the same questions from the back seat when I was younger. Someone gave me the idea once of giving them
a road map from one of the gas stations along the way. They assured me that it would cut down on the
questions. I don’t think they ever met
my kids. One son in particular increased
his questions. “Is this the next town on
the map? How many more miles until this
city? What exit number is this? This is awesome!” … maybe for him, but not
for me.
Can
you imagine Joseph’s road trip? He
traveled alone, probably on foot, for sixty plus miles looking for his brothers
only to find out that they weren’t where they were supposed to be. Some unnamed man he meets along the way directs
him to where he thinks they may have
gone. Actually it says… “a man noticed him wandering around the
countryside (vs. 15).” He must have
looked suspicious or frustrated. At this
rate, Joseph could be walking all over the country trying to find his brothers. His mind may have been filled with thoughts
of “…Hopefully they stay put for now until I can get there. I promised father I would check on my brothers,
but how far should I go? He would have
to give his best effort… his word was his word and he would keep it.
Are you a person of
your word? When you say that you will do
something, do you do it?
When
Joseph finally saw his brothers in the distance, he was probably relieved. No more wandering all over the countryside to
find them. We are not told at this time,
how long he had to travel to actually find them. It could have been days, or weeks. I’m sure his father sent him with food and
provisions to give them. We do know he
sent Joseph wearing that special coat he gave him as a gift (Gen. 37:23). When his brothers spotted him, they had a
different reaction than Joseph.
Some
quick, sharp-eyed spotter saw Joseph in the distance and probably said… “Guess
who is coming to visit us!” Just the
sight of him ignited a deep hatred within them.
I’m sure the conversation turned to name calling and unmentionable
comments being spewed in Joseph’s direction.
They were immediately inspired to plan to kill him. Wow… that was harsh. I get angry with people at times, but just
the sight of them does not provoke me to want to kill them. There is more
going on here than we know. This seething
hatred toward Joseph isn’t something that just happened. It has been growing and festering inside each
of them for years. Sin left unchecked in
our hearts can cause us to do things we never dreamed we would ever do (Genesis 4:1-8, 2 Samuel 11, Romans 7:15-25).
Is there anything in
your heart or life that you need to confess to God so you can be free?
There was once a man
and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared
everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from
each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her
closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For
all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little
old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to
sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it
to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was
in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of
money totaling $25,000. He asked her about the contents. "When we were to
be married," she said, "My grandmother told me the secret of a happy
marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I
should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." The little old man was so
moved that he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were in the
box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living
and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said,
"that explains the doilies, but what about all of this money? Where did it
come from?" "Oh," she said, "That's the money I made from selling
the doilies."
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