Tag: Joseph and his brothers

The Big Reveal

Genesis 45-47

Next to the greatest story ever told, the story of Joseph is by far my favorite Bible story. There are so many valuable lessons one can learn from reading it. Some lessons that stand out to me are the sovereignty of God, the importance of trusting God even in the midst of tragedy and suffering, and the beauty and power of forgiveness. 

I have often asked myself if I would have had Joseph’s attitude in the midst of a seemingly unending chain of absolutely horrific events. In spite of the terrible hand that he continued to be dealt, we don’t see him being consumed by anger, self-pity or a quest for vengeance. There’s something very powerful about Joseph’s unwavering faith in God that inspires me. He seems to possess a quiet assurance that everything is ultimately going to be okay. 

In this 45th chapter of Genesis, we see Joseph revealing his true identity to his brothers. We know he had risen to a very prominent position of power as second in command of Egypt. The stage could have been set for him to get the “perfect revenge” against his brothers. We read in verse 5 right after Joseph reveals his identity to his brother: “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” I find it especially poignant that not only does Joseph not want to exact revenge in this situation, he actually chooses to comfort his brothers in this moment rather than “giving them what for.” We know from earlier scriptures that Joseph was clearly hurt by their previous actions, but he wants to spare them the hurt of being angry with themselves or beating themselves up because of their actions. He points them to an understanding of God’s sovereignty and that they were players in God’s plan. 

How differently that 45th chapter of Genesis could have played out if Joseph had been bent on vengeance. Instead, we see the true beauty and power of forgiveness and a reminder that God is in control even in the midst of our darkest hours. 

If we choose to be consumed with anger or self-pity, we miss the important lessons God is trying to teach us. We read in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Perhaps the answer in those dark times is to focus on loving God even more deeply and purposely than ever before.

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion


1) When you encounter hardships and tragedies, does your attitude reflect one of unwavering faith in God? If not, how can you further nurture and strengthen that faith so that it is at the ready when life’s storms come your way?

2) What action can help us love God more deeply and purposely than ever before?

3) What other lessons can you learn from the story of Joseph?

(originally posted for SeekGrowLove on February 6, 2020)

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Who Hurts?

Genesis 42-44

Joseph, from the Old Testament, was a very godly man.  He endured many hardships, but held onto his faith. But along the way, he picked up some bitterness and resentment toward his brothers.  When he had the chance, he tormented them, exacting some measure of revenge.  At that time there was such severe famine that Joseph’s brothers were forced to go back to Joseph a second time and buy grain.  This time, Joseph started by being kind to his brothers, and then he veered off, continuing to emotionally torment them.

In Genesis 44, everything finally came to a head.  Joseph deceived his brothers further, and made it appear that he was going to force the youngest brother, Benjamin, to stay there with Joseph in Egypt.  This plan may have seemed like another fine way to punish his brothers, but there was a huge problem.  His brother Judah approached Joseph, and said, “If you keep the boy Benjamin here, our elderly father will die from sorrow.”  Perhaps Joseph hadn’t considered the pain he was about to cause his own father–or the pain he had already caused him.  At this point, Joseph just about had an emotional breakdown (in tomorrow’s reading in Genesis 45).  All along Joseph had been trying to hurt his brothers, but he was the one who was hurt the most.  The pain he wished for them turned out to be the pain he felt.

At some point in your life, you may have someone really hurt you.  Maybe you already have.  And maybe at some point you will have a chance to hurt them back.  Maybe even hurt them back really bad.  Consider this: it will come with a huge cost to you.  You may want to hurt them back, but it will cost you something very real and something very big.  It would be better for everyone involved if you can somehow forgive them, and not pay them back in the way they deserve.

-Jason Turner

(Originally posted Oct 26, 2018 for SeekGrowLove)

Reflection Questions

  1. When have you seen “Hurt People Hurt People” in action? When have you seen someone rise above their hurts to forgive and show compassion?
  2. What emotions do you think Joseph is feeling in today’s reading? Are there any that ought to win? Are there any that you want to see him overcome? What does it take to overcome an emotion?
  3. Who has hurt you in the past? Are you still hanging onto pieces of bitterness and resentment? Can you see any evidence in your life that this bitterness is hurting you? Who else could be feeling the effects? What would it take to let it go?
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When Struck by Jealousy

Genesis 34-37

Today we are going to start on the beginning of the story of Joseph and I am pretty pumped for Joseph. He is a really awesome character of the Bible. There are a ton of lessons that you can learn from his life.

Have you ever caught yourself being jealous of another person? It may not even be their whole life but just like parts of. I know I totally have areas where I’m jealous. My personal areas are intelligence, athletic abilities, leadership style, their writing ability or musical talent.  Here is the thing I like about me. I do. I think God made me great and I think through God’s grace and patience he is continually making me better in the characteristics that he will use to build his kingdom. You are great too and God made you with the strengths that you have for a reason; to build his kingdom and glorify him. Yet, 99% of us still have issues with jealousy and the other 1% have pride problems. Hahaha.

Let’s get started on Joseph though. The first mention we have of Joseph is Genesis 37 and it starts out with his dreams. You definitely should go read this chapter. It will help out tremendously with understanding this devotion. Joseph was the one of the last born of Jacob’s children and because of that Jacob loved him more than his other sons. To demonstrate his love for his son, Jacob gave him a robe of many colors. His brothers noticed that their father loved Joseph and hated him because of it.

When Joseph was older he had a dream that said that his brothers will bow down to him. Remember, Joseph was the younger brother. After a half second of contemplation you would totally understand why Joseph’s older brothers would not be blessed by this dream. This made them hate him even more. Then another night he had a dream that his whole family including his mother and father would bow down before him. In verse 11 it says “And his brothers were jealous of him…”.

I can empathize with his brothers at this point. I have totally been jealous of some people that I have seen being used by God. I don’t think this is the worst thing in the world. I just want to be able to glorify God like they are and that is not a terrible thing to want. What Joseph’s brothers choose to do next is definitely not good.

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery when he was out in the field one day and then lied to their father and said that he had been killed by a wild animal.

Now, why do you think that his brothers did that? I am going to make a huge leap and say they were probably jealous. I know I am way out there on this one.

They were jealous of him for something small back in the beginning of the chapter and now their jealousy grew and grew and grew until they were selling their brother into slavery. They let it build and simmer under the surface until they did something crazy and harsh. I will go out on a limb here and say that if you were to tell the brothers that they would sell their brother into slavery at the beginning of the chapter they would have called you a liar.

Have you ever noticed that if you are jealous of someone, you have a hard time being friends with them? Maybe there is a little extra hostility in your voice that you didn’t intend or you secretly wish they would make a mistake or some sort of small harm would derail them.

I don’t think that what happened to Joseph’s brothers was all of a sudden. They had been jealous of Joseph for a while and because they didn’t resolve this jealousy, they did something that they would come to regret. Love leaves no room for jealousy. It is impossible to love God, love people and be jealous of them. These feelings of envy and jealousy when unkept turn into anger. That is why it is impossible to love someone and be jealous of them.

So how do we keep jealousy from building into anger like what happened to Joseph’s brothers? None of us want unkept jealousy that will ruin our joy and make us do things that we don’t want to do. I am not the authority on this but I can tell what has worked for me. I have found it to be really hard to compliment people I was jealous of. So, I went ahead and complimented them and bragged about them and became a supporter of them. I would tell other people how great I thought they were and it did something weird in my heart. I was no longer jealous of them but I was happy for them and rooting for them.

Another thing that you will need to do is find your strengths, the good things about how God made you, and talk yourself up. Remind yourself that you are made in the image of the maker of heaven and earth and all good things dwells inside of you. If you need help finding your strengths ask a friend what they are and then ask God to help you find your value and worth in Him.

I do all of these things on a semi-regular basis. Let’s keep an eye on that jealousy and remind ourselves of who we are in God, so that we can stay joyful and love others.

Daniel Wall

(Originally posted for SeekGrowLove on Jan 24, 2020)

Reflection Questions

  1. When has jealousy stolen your joy and love for others? How did you treat the object of your jealousy?
  2. Who would you like to work on complimenting and becoming a supporter of?
  3. What are your God-given strengths? How can you work at remembering them and growing them?
  4. What would you suggest to a friend or child who has been struck with jealousy?
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God is Working

Genesis 37

February 5

In our lives we all have dreams. We have plans and wishes that we hope and pray will come to pass someday.

Joseph is born, the son of Jacob, favored by his father over his other siblings. Jacob was the golden child if you think about it. He was hardworking, honest and kind. That is why his brothers hated him so much. Joseph reported his brothers wrong doings to his father, which made his brothers see him as a snitch. But the fact that their father, Jacob, loved Joseph more made their hatred even worse. Joseph was a young man of integrity, blessed by God with dreams of leadership and prosperity. These dreams and hopes brought jealously from his brothers. Because of this, his brothers set out to get rid of Joseph by selling him as a slave, where Joseph went through many hardships. Regardless of how tough things got for Joseph, he kept his faith, and God’s plan was brought to the light.

Even though Joseph’s brothers were in the wrong for their actions, Joseph also acted in pride when he went and talked about his dreams. We all have our short comings, but what matters is that we learn from them and let God rule our lives.

Joseph was called by his brothers, “the dreamer”. But because of their cruelty, he became a slave. He went through challenges. But because of Joseph’s faith, his struggles turned into blessing.

We can often be slaves to our temptations and sins. We get sidetrack by the things in our lives. The thing is, that when we really look at it, we choose what we let rule our lives. We have the power to move mountains with God on our side. God is working in us, our lives, and our world. Even in the struggles, he is working.

God has a plan for every one of us. That doesn’t mean it is going to be easy and without hardship. It does mean however, that we are going to receive God’s promises through our struggle, and it is going to be better than anything we ever expected or imagined.

-Hannah Eldred

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What in your life are you struggling through, or what temptation are you facing?
  2. How can you use your situation to grow?
  3. What is your dream for your life? How do you think God can use that?

Tomorrow we will read more of Joseph’s account in Genesis 45.

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