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SOLD FOR SILVER!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Genesis 37:17-28

Psalm 18:41-50

 

“Lead me, O LORD,

in Thy righteousness…”

 

SOLD FOR SILVER!
 
The search for his brothers took Joseph past Shechem on to Dothan, another thirty kilometres further north. At Shechem, when the brothers were nowhere to be seen, he dutifully and without complaint, persevered. His father was awaiting news.
 
At Dothan, the brothers spotted the lone figure of their brother approaching in the distance. Immediately, they conspired to kill him and put an end to his pompous dreams. Death to the dreamer would rid them of the young upstart! Then they would no more have to bear the sight of their father’s favourite, aspiring to lord over them. But Reuben, moved by conscience, softened his heart and thought to save by an alternative plan. “Let us shed no blood, but throw him in a deep pit in the wilderness,” he counselled. In his mind, he purposed to return and deliver him.
 
Picture in your mind the reception Joseph got from his brothers after his long and weary trek from home. Ten of them pounced on him, stripped him of his special coat, and threw him into a deep hole in the ground. Blind to his tears, deaf to his pleadings, they left him there to die from hunger and thirst, from cold and nakedness, alone in a pit. How unfeeling and cruel they were in satisfying their own pent-up hatred. While their brother starved, they sat down to eat bread.
 
Then, over the horizon, God’s messengers appeared, to carry Joseph to be a prince! A company of Midianite traders on camels from Gilead carrying spices to Egypt soon came in sight. A bright idea came to Judah. Why slay their brother when they could sell him? What profit was there to leave Joseph to die? Judah’s counsel prevailed. The Midianites got Joseph, the brothers got twenty pieces of silver. Now, good riddance, he would never lord over us! So they thought. Men’s evil devices cannot destroy God’s anointed. The counsel of the Lord shall stand. Man’s plans were futile, for neither one worked. God was using men’s intrigues to bring to pass His eternal plan! Praise His name!
 
THOUGHT: The counsel of the Lord shall, and must, stand.
PRAYER: Help me, Father, to still trust in Thee when the storm rages around me.

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