18/1/18 – Genesis 36, Genesis 37 Matthew 13:18-35 Psalm 10:12-18

Gen 37: 5-8 – Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Joseph had a lot going for him… but humility was not one of those things. Not at this point in his life. He was the favoured child – the one given the special cloak to show the favoured status… and God gives him a dream – or a prophetic word of what’s to come.

And it does not go down at all well. They were already jealous of him, yet he used no wisdom. What sort of reaction was he expecting from them? “Hey guys, God told me – your little brother – that I am going to rule over you all and you will bow down”.

No wisdom at all. Even his dad rebukes him. This wisdom would develop in time, but it was a long road for him to get there.

What God has said to you – He has said to you. Other people may not understand the promise you’ve been given, they may even be extremely negative about it. Tat doesn’t mean you’ve misheard.

There is a right time to share it and a wrong time. Wisdom knows the difference.

Psalm 10: But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.

There is a lot of asking “why” in this psalm. But no answer comes. Yet the writer still trusts God. We know there is a day of Judgement coming and here and now – God is with the oppressed and the afflicted. He sees their trouble and take it in hand.

There are a lot of things in the world today that are unfair.

We may not get an answer to why. We don’t need one.

We know he is good so we can trust him.