Others

DEVOTION

GENESIS

OTHERS

Gen 37:31-36

31 Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe." 33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

NIV

After Reuben tried and failed to save Joseph and return him to their father, it seems he falls into league with the plan devised by the other brothers. His hopes of doing the right thing are gone and now he must accompany the rest of the brothers back to their father without Joseph. They, of course, have sold him, keeping his coat of many colors. Their idea is to imply they just found it, never ever seeing Joseph, but just this coat. They did not even have the courage to tell their father they knew it was Joseph’s coat. They ask him to examine it and see if it is the coat he made for Joseph. These brothers were really a deceptive bunch, including Reuben. He was now willing to save his own hide as well. So much for being the responsible, do the right thing, guy. However, had he spoken up about the truth, he would have to had faced the anger of ten brothers and he knew what kind of ruthlessness they were capable of. Yet still to watch their father mourn do deeply over Joseph must have hurt them, particularly Reuben. Although the narrative here is taking us along the path of Joseph we find our lesson in the attitude of these brothers. They acted out of jealously and hatred toward Joseph, being completely concerned about their own feelings with no concern about how their father was going to react to the news of Joseph being devoured by a wild beast. What a bunch of lairs, as they even tried to comfort him in his mourning. How could they possible comfort him? They could only cover up their own lies with more lies. When we act solely out of self-motivated thoughts, it is very possible we might cause someone else some pain. Every action has a reaction. If those brothers would have had the command of God to love their neighbors as themselves they surely would not have done what they did to Joseph and ultimately to their father. We have that command and yet there are times when we may cause others pain because of our behaviors or actions. It is difficult to always think about the other person, to put their needs above ours. We have to always be aware of what we do and how will that affect those around us. That is mostly a foreign concept to the way the world operates. We have been taught from infancy to think about ourselves, to gain as much as we can, to be the best we can be. Even the little prayer we teach our children has seven I’s or my’s in it:

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if should I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Everything is about I and my and that is the way we were raised. The brothers were certainly all about I and my, without regard for what would happen to Joseph or their father. We cannot afford to be all about ourselves as it will certainly not please God first and foremost, but it also will most likely hurt someone we profess to love or are supposed to love, such as our neighbor. This takes work, effort, continuous awareness. This takes being a Spirit controlled person. This takes the strength of the Spirit, for our flesh is surely too weak to accomplish this type of living on its own. This takes the first part of this command about loving our neighbor as our self. This takes loving God with all our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength. We cannot even do that without the Spirit. We know what the fruit of the Spirit are as outlined for us in the letter to the Galatians. They are opposite that which is outlined as a life controlled by self, the sinful nature. If we are filled with the Spirit, walking with the Spirit, then we should be in step with the Spirit. This should be a life not about self, but about others. The fruit does the tree no good, it is for others to come along and enjoy it. Instead of causing others pain, as these brothers did, let others enjoy the fruit of our lives.