Journey Through the Bible in a Year
Reading God's Word and learning more about His plan for my life each day!
Sunday, October 6, 2002
Introduction to Journey Through the Bible
A note about online study
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day of worship, this Lord’s Day You have given us! As we worship together, unite us in thought, word and deed, that all we think, say and do, we be lifted up to You as our offering and sacrifice of praise. Bless and empower those who will lead worship this day with the presence and power of Your Holy Spirit. May each and everyone of us bring You glory and honor today and always. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
My Journey Verses for Today
Genesis 37:1-26
1 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived. 2 This is the history of Jacob's family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father's flocks with his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. 3 Now Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day he gave Joseph a special gift – a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father's partiality. They couldn't say a kind word to him. 5 One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 6 "Listen to this dream," he announced. 7 "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!" 8 "So you are going to be our king, are you?" his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said. 9 Then Joseph had another dream and told his brothers about it. "Listen to this dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!" 10 This time he told his father as well as his brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What do you mean?" his father asked. "Will your mother, your brothers, and I actually come and bow before you?" 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant. 12 Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are over at Shechem with the flocks. I'm going to send you to them.""I'm ready to go," Joseph replied. 14 "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me word." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from his home in the valley of Hebron. 15 When he arrived there, a man noticed him wandering around the countryside. "What are you looking for?" he asked. 16 "For my brothers and their flocks," Joseph replied. "Have you seen them?" 17 "Yes," the man told him, "but they are no longer here. I heard your brothers say they were going to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there. 18 When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him. 19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they exclaimed. 20 "Come on, let's kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what becomes of all his dreams!" 21 But Reuben came to Joseph's rescue. "Let's not kill him," he said. 22 "Why should we shed his blood? Let's just throw him alive into this pit here. That way he will die without our having to touch him." Reuben was secretly planning to help Joseph escape, and then he would bring him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe 24 and threw him into the pit. This pit was normally used to store water, but it was empty at the time. 25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they noticed a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking spices, balm, and myrrh from Gilead to Egypt. 26 Judah said to the others, "What can we gain by killing our brother? That would just give us a guilty conscience.
Reflecting on God's Word for My Journey
What dreams has God given you?
A Deeper Exploration of God's Word for My Journey
What was the relationship like between Joseph and his brothers? Why? (37:1-12)
What did the brother’s do about their hatred for Joseph? (37:12-26)
Understanding God's Will for My Journey
Why do you suppose that Joseph told his family about his dreams right away?
Do you see God’s hand at work in the brother’s response to Joseph? Why or Why not?
Applying What God's Word Tells Me to My Journey
What do you learn from reading today’s Scripture that you can apply in your daily life?
My Personal Journey Thought for the Day—“Joseph!”
The story of Joseph is one of the most amazing accounts in the Old Testament. As we know he was the eleventh of Jacob’s twelve sons. As we see in today’s Scripture when he was seventeen God gave him two dreams—they were true pictures of what was going to happen in the future. Joseph immediately reported the dreams to his family. This shows us that Joseph had not yet learned to reflect on God’s blessings before sharing them. Given that his brothers already detested him, and knew that their father loved him the most, Joseph’s immediate sharing of his dreams was certain to cause an even sharper division in the family. He couldn’t see that. He was only seventeen. Little did he realize all the suffering he would have to go through before the dreams came true. The brothers only knew that they weren’t willing to live with such a self-centered brother who was the object of their father’s affection. They took drastic action. At first they were going to kill him, but instead they decided to sell him as a slave. As we’ll see in our readings this week, Joseph’s situation goes from bad to not so bad, to worse, to not quite so bad, to worse, to incredibly good. May we learn from that process—life doesn’t always get better once God starts blessing us, especially if we don’t use wisdom in sharing the blessings. Sometimes people are NOT excited to hear about God’s work in our lives, so we need to consider how to use the gifts and abilities God has given us in such a way that He will be glorified and folks won’t be offended by us. Jesus working in us often offends people, but the goal is to only offend people with the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus. We want to stay out of God’s way and let Him use us to advance His kingdom. Joseph eventually learned to wait on the Lord and be used by Him, and that would ultimately save his family as we’ll see!
To view other studies from our Journey Through the Bible, click here.