Shanghaied!

Thanks to John Carley for today’s beautiful, featured photo!

Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

Romans 12:21 (CSB)

How dark is the human heart?

I remember a woman who had three children, each about three years apart. I don’t know her own backstory, so maybe something happened to cause the dysfunction in her life, by the inequity with which she treated her children. It was painfully obvious.

Her two youngest children were adored. She could not do enough. Even her husband took a back seat to those children. But the oldest son was mistreated and I believe abused. He was certainly left harmed, emotionally. His dignity was consistently robbed.

To see his mother as a monster was easy. But that is a judgement best left in God’s hands. She has died.

What would you tell her son to do, as an adult?

As a believer, his only response could be forgiveness, when asked. He could not return evil for evil.

And that brings us to the story of Joseph.

His story is different from our opening story. Joseph actually may have had a hand in some of the wickedness that befell him.

See what you think.

Joseph was the favored son of his father, Jacob, and of Jacob’s favored wife, Rachel.

Here’s a link to get caught up. Genesis 37:1-17

Joseph began to have prophetic dreams as a teenager, given to him by God. Joseph, either with prideful intent or naively unaware, explained to his brothers how God would have them bow to him in the future, as described in these dreams.

This only served to intensify the animosity of the brothers for Joseph, and very likely for Jacob. If you read the linked passage, you saw that Jacob gave Joseph a special gift but left the brothers out.

God was at work in the lives of these imperfect people.

One of these brothers would be known as the greatest of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, from which came not only King David, but the Messiah, our Lord Jesus.

One day, Jacob asked Joseph to check on his ten half-brothers. They were shepherds, working in the countryside of Shechem.

Evil always plots within our own hearts, sometimes even without the enticement of Satan. See that here.

When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him.  “Here comes the dreamer!” they said.  “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said.  “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. 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. 

These guys were totally unscrupulous. Ever the opportunists, these sinners added greed and deception to their list of evil. Reuben must have walked away from the group because Joseph’s rescuer is about to have the wool pulled over his eyes, too.

Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelite traders. Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders…So, Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

Think about this. Not only were these men about to pull a cruel deception on their old father and sell their very own brother they were about to deceive Reuben in a cruel way, too.

Sometime later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”

Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.

Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

Do you see all of the acts of evil perpetrated in the story? And take my word for it, Joseph’s story is just beginning.

But my question to you is simply this. Why didn’t God just step in?

Well, the simple answer is because God gave mankind free will. Otherwise He would be a puppet master. Our relationship with Him would be forced, and not of free, willing love.

But our evil hearts cannot undo God’s plan. And God was not surprised by the actions of every soul on that day.

So then why doesn’t God just interfere with evil people?

Because He would have to interfere with all people.

Romans 3:23 reminds us that every person has fallen short of God’s holy standard. That includes you and me, too.

While we wait for God to end wickedness, we must trust Him. As believers, we need to remain faithful, read His Word, pray, and share the Gospel.

Next week we will continue Joseph’s story.

Share the Gospel in your world!

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.