Our story takes place in Genesis 37:15-22 when Joseph arrives in Shechem having been sent by his father to check on his ten older brothers. Joseph’s relationship with his brothers is rocky. They can’t speak a kind word about him. While Joseph innocently approaches, his brothers are plotting against him.
A man met him as he was wandering through the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”16 “I’m trying to find my brothers. Do you have any idea where they are grazing their flocks?”17 The man said, “They’ve left here, but I overheard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph took off, tracked his brothers down, and found them in Dothan.18–20 They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.” 21–22 Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him, “We’re not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father. Genesis 37:15-22 The Message
Where is God in the life of Joseph during this part of the story? Why doesn’t the Lord warn Joseph what his brothers are up to? Why doesn’t He send an angel? What is wrong with people who want to resolve their problems with force? Sometimes as people we have more questions than answers.
Maybe you experienced a time in your life where things were going well, and you had no idea a great difficulty lay just around the next corner.
We live in a sinful world where people’s sins affect those around them. God has given man free will, but we don’t always use that freedom wisely. In the midst of all of this, God is working out his plan in the life of Joseph and in our own life.
Learning to trust God and walking by faith is difficult especially in difficult family situations. As people, we always want days filled with sunshine and pleasant temperatures but life, like the weather, is far from perfect. Often it is on the bumpy roads of life that we learn the most. It is on the bumpy roads of life that we most often look to God who is always there.
If are not sure what is ahead in life, look to Jesus to direct your path.
