Very well

DEVOTION

GENESIS

VERY WELL

Gen 37:12-20

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them." "Very well," he replied. 14 So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16 He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?" 17 "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."

NIV

Israel kept the matter of Joseph’s dreams in his mind. He knew his other sons were jealous of Joseph and they hated him because he told them of his dreams. So why then did Israel send Joseph to his other sons? He was the favorite son. It is true that Joseph had given bad reports about his brothers before so maybe Israel thought this would be the case again. Maybe his other sons were loafing on the job. Maybe they were not doing such a good job tending to the flocks. But still wouldn’t Israel think Joseph would be in trouble out there all alone with his brothers that hate him? It does seem strange a father who favors this son would send him into a possible dangerous setting. Joseph on the other hand, thinks nothing of it and tells his father, sure thing, I will go. We are starting to get a picture of the character of Joseph here. Although we were not sure as to the tone of his voice or attitude when he told of his dreams, we are starting to see that it might well have been with a certain innocence, simply a truth telling, without any malice or self-righteousness. Here we see he is an obedient son even though he is more than aware of his brother’s attitude toward him. Joseph surely knew his brothers would not be pleased to see him. We know this is true as we are told they hated him so much when they saw him coming toward them, they plotted to kill him. Once again we are spending time with another dysfunctional family. But let us take our lesson from Joseph today. Is it possible that God would ask us to go somewhere that it might be dangerous for us? It certainly is possible missionaries serve in areas which are dangerous. But it seems we are not all called to the mission field, at least in some foreign land. However, that is exactly what we are. We are all called to the mission field in a foreign land. Are citizenship is in the kingdom of God and we are now living in a foreign land, this world.

1 Peter 2:11-12

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

NIV

Just as Joseph’s brothers determined to wage war on Joseph, taking his life, the world wages war on us, trying to take or kill our soul. Yet God has called us into the world, to go after it, or rather into it, but not as citizens of it, but as ambassadors of him. Israel sent Joseph to be his representative, to determine the condition of his brothers and the flocks. God has sent us into the world as his representatives. But the world is a dangerous place, far more dangerous than staying cooped up in the church.  It has many traps set to destroy our soul, to entrap our spirit, our mind and our heart. It calls to us, come closer, look what I have to offer. It plots against us with all its pleasures and ideologies, its intellectualism, its materialism as well as a host of other temptations. It plots to kill us, but God still calls us to go into it, to tell the world about him. We need to respond as Joseph, “Very well”.