47 Days of Justice 2024 - Day 34: Injustice is often supported by a one-sided story.

“Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39:19-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Let’s start with a funny story; it will be particularly humorous to any of you who had the honor of knowing my father.

When I was a little girl, I would often make things with my own hands, particularly cards for my family’s special occasions. To do so I would cut pictures out of magazines, postcards, and so on, transforming them into my works of art. Knowing this, my father, one day when at the carwash, picked up a few of the free postcards lined up in front of the cash register. He came home and presented these to me. Of course, I was very thrilled.

Now—although I was very young—I was also very conscious of not doing anything that might be offensive to the Lord. I saw that one of the cards was advertising the San Souci nightclub. My father only saw bright lights and a party scene; but I saw the word “nightclub.” Knowing what a nightclub was, I decided to get rid of it. Not wanting my father to be offended if he saw it in the trash, I folded it and put it underneath some other things.

That was the truth—the whole truth—of the story.

Well, it so happened that my mother and sister found the San Souci card I had folded and hidden. And—as outlandish as this may seem to ANYONE who knew my father—the only “logical” answer to them was that my father had it and hid it so nobody would see. (You see, none of the other cards were with this one, as I deemed the others “acceptable”). Clearly, there were no other “suspects” in the house: My sister and brother weren’t out driving around, much less frequenting nightclubs. My mother knew it wasn’t her card. So, it had to be my daddy!

I remember seeing my mother and sister whispering around about this. But of course, my tender ears didn’t need to hear anything about the San Souci nightclub.

Now, the end of the story—as I can remember—happened when I saw the card and said, “Oh, that’s mine!” I don’t know if I explained to them why I had hidden it or not. But I told them that daddy had gotten it for me from the carwash.

Of course, I felt responsible for this whole debacle. But the real culprit was suspicion and the lack of benefit of the doubt. Although it made absolutely no sense that my father would do such a thing, it was “the only plausible explanation,” “an airtight case,” until it wasn’t.

“The first to speak in court sounds right— until the cross-examination begins.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Wow! That was a lesson I will never forget. Even so, I fight the tendency to run down the road and connect dots that shouldn’t be connected. In fact, jumping to conclusions is a product of the carnal mind. The mind of the Spirit uses discernment, not suspicion, to rightly judge.

Then there was a story my father told about a man (living back in the day) who had a dear wolfhound. The man, hearing there was a vicious wolf prowling around, went out to hunt it down to keep it from harming things on his property. Seeing no sign of the wolf, he called out to his dog, Gilleart, who was assisting the hunt. But Gilleart was nowhere to be found.

The man quickly returned home and went up to the bedroom of his dear baby son. Upon walking into the room, he sees a bloody blanket on the floor by his baby son‘s crib, and bloody-faced Gilleart sitting beside the blanket. Assuming the worst, the man takes his sword from its sheath and drives it through Gilleart. Gilleart died licking his master’s hand.

Suddenly, the bloody blanket began moving. Seeing this, the man grabs it up and finds his son, unharmed, sleeping soundly. Looking behind the crib, the man sees the wolf, dead. Gilleart had apparently followed the wolf into the house, saving the man’s son. Gilleart was thanked by being killed by his master.

I’ll offer one more story.

Many years ago, I was in a small group of very close individuals when the Lord put it on my heart to give a prophetic word, which I did. Afterwards, one of the individuals in that group, who I have known for a long time, came to me, accusing me of using that prophetic word to give them a “reprimand.” Now, I didn’t find out until a year later, what the assumed reprimand was about. You see, I had no idea that this individual was doing what they were doing; but apparently they thought I did know. In my scolding, they called me “shrill” and guilty of Proverbs 18:13:

“Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.” NLT

The irony was that I was not the one who was speaking before hearing the whole story, they were. Assuming I knew what was going on with them, they thought I was using the name of God to issue a reprimand. That hurt.

Jumping to conclusions can hurt. And sometimes, it even kills.

In our opening scripture we see that poor Joseph, though he went out of his way to try to avoid Potiphar’s on-the-prowl wife, has been thrown into prison. Talk about jumping to a conclusion. Will this be the end of Joseph and his lofty dreams?

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#resolveforhim #47DaysOfJustice