“Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.” Genesis 37:5
Can jealousy affect you if you’re under the protection of God?
Was Joseph harmed or blessed by his brother’s
jealousy?
I've heard many Christian say if Joseph was envied
and harmed by his own brothers why not me? But the lesson here is: yes, his
brothers envied him but it was all part of the plan of God. Although he went
through some hard time but God walked him through it.
I personally think if Christians are afraid
of jealousy it’s because the god of jealousy in their life is bigger than the
Almighty God they think they believe. They are Christians only with their lips
but their hearts and minds are away from the Lord.
Although Joseph’s dream provoked his brothers to
hate him even his own father rebuked him when he told them about his dreams
that still didn't stop it from happening. “…his father rebuked him and
said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers
actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” Genesis 37:10
Now bear in mind that Joseph was his father’s
favorite son. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other sons, because he had
been born to him in his old age; and he made a rich ornamented robe for him.”
Genesis 37:3
Maybe if he had kept his mouth shut he
probably wouldn't suffer so much in his brother’s hands. Many times we suffer
because we cannot contain our mouth shut. Sometimes we get in trouble, and go
through many unnecessary situations in life just because we think with our tongue.
But we all know that if God really wanted Joseph to
go to Egypt and be the Governor there, he would for sure made a way to get him
down there one way or the other. Otherwise there would be no Joseph's story.
God is God, he needs no help, and he always finds a way some how. No jealousy
or nevi barriers can stop him.
But the problem with jealousy is not from whom it’s
coming from, it’s what you do with it that matters. People will always envy
you. It’s not what they think it’s what you think matters. We cannot control
how people think of us, but we can for sure control how we think of ourselves.
We have to forgive others even when reason and will
does not want to understand each other in our minds. But we still have to find
strength within us to let it go because we know it’s the right thing to do and
it pleases God.
That’s what Joseph did. “Then Joseph could no
longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out. …And he
wept so loudly… Joseph said to his brothers,
“ I am joseph"!
Don’t you think Joseph had a battle within himself,
questioning God why do I have to forgive them? If he had no resentment why
didn’t he run to his brother’s arms the first time they appeared there hugging
and kissing them telling them how much he love and missed them? And who can
blame him? He would have to be a robot not to? We’re Christians, we’re not made
out of steel! We have feelings and emotions just like everyone else.
The reason we forgive is because we ignore our will
to do the will of God. Not because we’re better than anyone else, or because
we’re superheroes, it’s because we live to please our Lord. Nothing else!
Do you think it was easy for him to have to look
his brothers in the eyes and say I forgive you? Do you think it was easy for
him? Don’t you hear frustration and pain here in his cry when he wept so loudly
that the whole palace could hear him? That scream was why?
Why Lord? Why?
Now that I have the power in my hands to destroy
them for all they made me go through, now I’m gone have to forgive them! Why
Lord, why? He was putting it all out once and for all, all those inner anger,
those why’s, the injustice, those frustration, all the rejections that he
nurtured in his chest for so many years. At that moment he was receiving an
emotional and inner healing when he cried out loud and forgave his brothers.
Who says man doesn’t cry? Real man does cry! Joseph cried! Jesus cried!
No body is perfect! If anyone tells you it’s
easy to forgive, they’re lying to you or they have never been hurt before.
Trust me, its “The” worst pain in the world. When we forgive someone when they
hurt us we have to look at it as an offering to Jesus not to the person. That’s
the only way I’m able to forgive someone when they hurt me.
Did Joseph treat his brothers the same way
they treated him? NO!
Did he humiliate them by bringing up the subject;
remembering them what they did to him? NO!
Why bring up the subjects that you know will hurt
the person, just let it go! Why crush who is already broken?
What for? They already knew what they did and were
feeling like crap! Why bring it up and rub it on their faces?
Only low class people/ a coward like to do stuff
like that.
That’s like kicking a person while they’re on the
floor!
Do you keep a black book in your mind of
unrelated failures and offenses to somehow with intention to repay evil? Let it
go!
When we forgive others we are the most benefited
ones. Not them!
Joseph didn’t repay his brothers with the same coin
they deserved. He didn’t have to. He was doing so much better then them, to the
point that they didn’t even recognize him. He had moved on! But his brothers
had the same mentality, they thought Joseph was gone do them harm once their father
pass. Look at their mentality. They couldn’t believe Joseph had indeed forgave
them!
This proves to us that desert molds a man of
God. Joseph was a different person. He had learned to forgive and forget and
let go all that bitterness, all that sourness of his soul, and all that
self-pity of family rejection. Through his suffering he learned to forgive his
brothers and embrace the plan of God in a foreign land and live at peace with
his God and himself.
Joseph’s dream came to pass from a slave to a great
Governor of Egypt and a great man of God because he was able to forgive and
forget. Unless you we learn to forgive and forget just like Joseph did,
trusting and waiting in the Lord just like he did we will never see our Dream
come to pass like his did!
So, was Joseph harmed or blessed by his brother’s
jealousy?
He was blessed. The jealousy was just a tool that
God found at that moment to help turning Joseph into the great Joseph that he
became. All that hardship he went through molded him and thought him how to
establish a profound communion with God, in the way that all his brothers’
jealousy didn’t affect him at all.
He did not dwell in that mentality of jealousy.
He held on to his Dreams!
Although Joseph was crying, screaming, complaining, grumbling, questing
God throughout his journey he kept on walking, he didn’t stop. I’m sure many
times he though about escaping from that slavery or the prison, but where to?
Who wouldn’t want to run away from that hell place he was living in? From his
father’s cozy deluxe coat to that trauma cisterna- to being sold by his
brothers- prison as a criminal – to the Governor. What a Ride!
