God is at Work

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

GOD IS AT WORK

Gen 37:21-36

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe — the richly ornamented robe he was wearing —  24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?" 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

We are surprised that Reuben did not agree with his brothers regarding killing Joseph. Was not Reuben also upset over Joseph’s dreams? Reuben was the oldest son, born to Leah, Israel’s first wife. Perhaps he had some sense of the pain all the brothers would cause his father, for his intent was to take Joseph back to him. But that plan was not to be for when Rueben was absent from the others they decided to sell Joseph to merchants. Once again, they knew the pain they would cause their father and they did not care for their hatred of Joseph drove them into an evil act, both to Joseph and their father. We are faced with this hate becoming an act of evil once more. We do know the whole story, and that later Joseph realized, that although they did an evil act against him, God intended it for good. That leads us to our lives in this world and in church. Have we ever experienced any evil act or acts against us that caused a change in our path which ultimately revealed that God intended that for our good so that we would be in a place of His design? As we reflect back on our lives, can we say this is true? We have had many setbacks, many times when the circumstances seemed against us. We have gone through difficult times, stretching or testing our faith. Were they caused by some evil plot of our enemy, the world under the control of the hater of our soul, or was it the plan that was to bring about the good God intended for us? What we know is that we have been experiencing God’s good for some time, and have been where he has intended all along. God knew the good he was going to bring about in the life of Joseph which ultimately was for the good of all the family of Israel. When God works good in our lives, it is not just for us, but so that He can cause good for the rest of our family, perhaps our birth family, but surely the rest of the family of God. We know God is always working for our good no matter what happens along the way, to bring us into the right place, both spiritually and physically.  God is at work.