9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. God was with him, however, 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. The grace and wisdom he gave Joseph were recognized by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole palace. 11 A famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great hardship came with it. Our ancestors had nothing to eat. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time. 13 During their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives—seventy-five in all—and invited them to live with him. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a certain sum of money from Hamor’s children, who lived in Shechem. (Acts 7:9-16, CEB)
Sometimes bad things happen because people think they know better than God. The brothers of Joseph didn’t like him because their father seemed to like him more than the rest of the kids. Now as a parent I try to make it clear to my children that I love them all the same and I can tell you that I fail at that every time. My hope is they know that I love them as much as they need to be loved because I can not actually love them, all the same, all the time. I will love one more when they need love, or maybe a better way to say that is I will show one more love at the moment they need it.
But how ever I love my children or Joseph’s father loved his children, his brothers did evil to him because they knew better what needed to happen than God. And when we take actions into our own hands and do what we know to be best for us and those around us, sometimes evil happens. But God works in and through all things. I have seen this and experienced it first hand.
Believe that God is always with you, and a seed is buried in the ground and uses that to grow!
aSacredRebel 