Hard Hearted

12/25/2007 9:38 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Hard Hearted

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference: Genesis 37:23-28

            Message of the verses:  ” 23 ¶  So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;

24  and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

25  Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.

26  Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?

27  "Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers listened to him.

28  Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.”

            There are a few things that stand out to me in this passage, and one of them is that the first thing that Joseph’s brothers do to him is take of the special coat that his father had given him, which makes me think that the coat had a lot to do with their hatred towards Joseph.  I guess it would be hard for me to believe that after the put Joseph into the pit that they were so hard hearted that they could sit down and have a meal, like nothing was going on, knowing that Joseph was probably yelling at them because of being in that pit.

            As I stated in one of the recent SD’s, that what was happening to Joseph was in the sovereign will of God, yet the sins that the brothers committed were still sins which they sinned on their own, but God used even  these sins to work out his sovereign will not only for this family, but for the whole world, for after all the Lord Jesus Christ would come out of the Jewish nation.  With all of this said it was Judah who came up with the idea of selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites, probably for greed, and maybe because his conscience was bothering him for wanting to kill him.

            There are a number of things that happened to Joseph here that also would happen to Jesus in his life, and that is that he would have a special garment striped from him and be put into a pit, and he too was sold for a certain amount of silver, and the money given to the one who betrayed Him.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The story of Joseph surely remind me that God has a plan and nothing will stop that plan from being fulfilled.  It also shows me that there are times when bad things happen to good people, and it can be said that even these bad things that happen to good people can be used to fulfill the plans of God. 

My Steps of Faith Today:  “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”