- araratchurch
- Jun 22, 2024
- 2 min read
“Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood (murder)? Come, let us [instead] sell him to these Ishmaelites [and Midianites] and not lay our hands on him, because he is our brother and our flesh.” So his brothers listened to him and agreed.”
Genesis 37:26-27 AMP
Those who support the killing of the unborn in the womb never have to see the blood that is shed. As a matter fact, if you try to show any of those images, you are accused of being a “hater,” cruel, and unkind. Take just a moment and think about that reasoning: The slaughtering of the innocent is not unkind; yet showing the image of the victim IS unkind?
And it’s not just with that issue that injustices are allowed to be carried out because they are kept out of sight. Groups of people are ignored and dismissed, left to the hands of their executioners, because it isn’t a popular topic for the press to cover, or people are paid off for their silence.
The Genocide of the Armenian people was basically allowed to be carried out with very little ado in the United States, or the rest of the world, for that matter. Tragically, the systematic taking of historically Armenian land and Armenian lives continues to this day.
Similarly, the Holocaust of the Jews was perpetrated while fictions were purveyed about what was really happening. In fact, Hitler even referenced the Armenian Genocide when planning what he would do to the Jews, pointing out the fact that nobody talked of what happened to the Armenians.
Even today, large groups of people in China, indeed, all over the world, are being systematically abused and killed. But why should we care as long as we can have the current iPhone and our TicToc video has thousands of views?
We don’t care because we don’t have to see it. But God sees it, and oh, how He cares:
“While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.”
Psalms 50:21-22 NLT
Joseph’s brothers wanted him out of the way, but they didn’t want to have to pay the price for doing it. They didn’t want to have the blood on their hands. What they did not know was that his blood was already on their hands from the moment they started the plot against him. Indeed, that’s the way the Lord sees it.
In today’s portion of Joseph’s story we see that his brothers believe that they are going to be able to kill two birds with one stone: They will rid themselves of the “dreamer” without having blood on their hands, and make a little money in the process.
Looks like they are committing the perfect crime. Oh, wait a minute! They forgot about that one Witness….
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.”
Genesis 37:25 NLT
Don’t let the fact be lost on you that having just thrown their little brother into a dry cistern, leaving him for dead, Joseph’s brothers are about to sit down to eat!
Imagine this: Joseph is surely crying out for help, imploring that they change their minds. He is hungry. He is exhausted. He is thirsty. He is horrified. Yet, they’ve worked up an appetite!
When our own hurt, agenda, desires, etc., are louder than the voice of justice, we no longer feel compelled to respond to cries of distress. Cries for mercy become background “noise,” barely interrupting the loud demands of our wicked agenda. So what if we have inflicted hurt? Even more reason to ignore and deny what is really happening. Move along, nothing to see here.
For some people, anything—including anyone—standing between them and what they want, is objectified, and seen only as an obstacle to their desires. So naturally, there is no consideration for the other person or group. After all, objects require no consideration.
Oh how important it is that we treat one another as one of God’s beloved and as our dear sister(s) or brother(s) in Christ.
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
1 John 4:7, 11-12, 20-21 NLT
As we discussed on Day 18, if we are dealing with our sisters and brothers out of our envy, our jealousy, our greed, our ambitions, our hurt, etc., we will necessarily become abusive and commit injustices.
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.“
James 4:1-2a NLT
Additionally, it is easy to become abusive or insensitive in our dealings with others when we allow the pressures of life to cause us to be completely self-centered, totally self-absorbed.
We must beware lest imprisoned in our own echo chambers, we become oblivious to how our actions are causing harm; or how our inactions may deny relief to suffering souls.
Joseph’s brothers have allowed their own bitterness to make them calloused to Joseph’s suffering. Now they are about to do something they think will tie the bow on their heartless scheme.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jun 20, 2024
- 2 min read
“So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.”
Genesis 37:23-24 NLT
Many years ago there were some people who were treating me badly. I had no idea why they seemed to take pleasure in the abusive behavior they dealt out to me. I couldn’t think of anything I had specifically done. It just seemed that they found who I am to be distasteful to them.
In a time of prayer I asked the Lord what I thought was a rhetorical question: “Why are they doing this to me?” To my surprise, the Lord quickly and clearly answered with this: “Some people try to fill the hole in their soul with the misery of others.”
Wow! What a revelation! I then thought back over all the years, all the bullies I have ever known who seemed to take pleasure in calling me names, wanting to hurt my feelings, who would even track me down to verbally assault me. Now it all made sense.
You see, miserable people try to make others miserable. Whoever said that “misery loves company,” was right. And, the top example of this being so, is Satan.
“Hell has a voracious appetite, and lust just never quits.”
Proverbs 27:20 MSG
Of course, it doesn’t make the miserable feel better to victimize others. As we have noted before, it would be like trying to get rid of a hole in your backyard by digging it out; it only gets bigger. Even still, they try to muffle their misery with others’ sadness and distress, others’ misery.
Joseph’s brothers hated him for what he represented to them: He was the favored son; he was the one who never got in trouble. Somehow or another, to get rid of him, would be to “set things right” in their lives; it would “even the score.”
In today’s portion of Joseph’s story, we see him catching up with his brothers. He comes upon them, probably very tired from the journey of trying to find them. He was possibly even relieved to see them. But he is about to fall into their terrible plan.
It’s notable that the first thing the brothers did was to remove that beautiful coat, that symbol of the father’s favor, having now become the symbol of their misery. They throw him into a dry cistern, leaving him for dead.
Oh what inhumanity can be manifested when empty souls, now filled with evil intent, set their minds to “set things right.” Beloved, it ought not be so.
“You are still worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]?”
1 Corinthians 3:3 AMP
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!