A couple of years ago, I attended a conference in Orlando. This was not a business conference. It was a "Women of Faith" conference. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had attended many retreats before but they were all small affairs in comparison. This conference was to be held at an arena and it would be attended by hundreds of women. I honestly have to say that I was a bit skeptical.
I went with a group of Emmaus sisters, about 18 of us. We had assigned seats on the floor. I looked around at the multitude of women present, at the stage, at the lights and I asked myself, what am I doing here? I almost felt as if I was in a concert. But as soon as the first person grabbed the microphone, I was blown away. To see so many women together, from different backgrounds, different religions, different nationalities... Everyone praising one God, together in unison, was truly overwhelming in a marvelous way.
There was music, prayer and testimonies. One of my favorite testimonies of the weekend was given by Max Lucado, author and minister. His testimony was based on Joseph's story. He wrote a book which I highly recommend: "You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for your Turbulent Times." I've read the book twice and Joseph has become one of my favorite characters from the Old Testament.
Remember Leah and Rachel, the two sisters we met a few days earlier in our journey? Joseph is Rachel's oldest boy. He was born approximately 1900 years before Christ. His birth is mentioned in Genesis 30:22-24 but we really meet him 17 years later.
Joseph Dreams of Greatness
His story is so important in God's plan of salvation that it covers fourteen chapters in Genesis. There is a lot we can learn from Joseph so I think he's going to stay with us for a few days.
The story of Joseph starts pretty much the same way as Leah and Rachel's story. There is jealousy and rivalry between Joseph and his brothers and their father has a lot to do with it, just like their grandfather was the culprit of the troubled relationship between Rachel and Leah. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and Jacob did not even try to hide it. Jacob could have really used some serious lessons on parenting. Jacob treated Joseph better than all the rest. He even made him a special colorful tunic. We can only imagine the brother's disgust when Joseph pranced around in front of his brothers with the elegant robe that he had received from their father. The robe proved to the brothers that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them.
Those of us that are parents of more than one child know what fine line we walk in order not to cause animosity and resentment between our children. When I first became a mother of a boy and a girl exactly twelve months apart, I thought that in order for them to get along, I had to treat them exactly the same. If I bought one thing for one, I had to buy something for the other one. But I soon realized that was not the answer. First of all they were totally different and second, children by nature are going to be jealous of each other. Parenthood is probably the hardest profession and it doesn't come with instructions. We learn as we go and we make many mistakes along the way. What I've learned in the past 26 years as a mother of three, is to love them all equally and individually, to respect them for who they are, not to compare them because they are totally different and to teach them by example because that is the only way they learn.
Joseph did not do himself any favors in his relationship with his brothers. He often went to his father to gossip about his brothers. So if he was a tattletale then no wonder there was so much tension and hatred against him. And then, to add insult to injury, Joseph began to dream. In his brothers' eyes, the dreams were pretentious. In two different dreams, Joseph saw his brothers bowing down to him. When Joseph shared his dreams with his brothers, perhaps not very wise from him, his brothers despised him even more. They thought Joseph was arrogant and delusional. If Joseph had been humble, maybe his brothers would have treated him differently.
In the ancient world, dreams were usually thought to come from God and they were taken very seriously. But to his brothers, these dreams were a sign of grandeur from a boy who was spoiled by his father. Therefore, the brothers assumed these dreams were not inspired by God but by Joseph's own egocentric aspirations. But these dreams would prove to be from God, as a prediction to the future.
Tomorrow we will see what happens when jealousy and envy take possession of a person's heart.
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