Then the brothers
killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the
beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found.
Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”
Their father
recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal
must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes and
dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried to comfort
him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning
for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep. Genesis
37:31-35
I remember when my youngest daughter was growing up, and she
struggled to enunciate words. She had a
speech impediment, and it made it very difficult for us to understand her. It also had to be frustrating to her because
we often struggled to get her what she needed.
As a father, you struggle because you see how your older children were
able to easily do things, and this young adorable child would cry as you fought
to get her to that same understanding.
It saddened me because at times I feel I was too hard on her. I still can see the pained look on her little
face and her tears when she felt I disappointed her.
Today, I can’t get her to shut up. Now I have to fight her about keeping her
room clean and why she got put out of Social Studies class. “I was in the right, Dad,” she would explain. She’s taller than me, and she loves to
wrestle with her Dad. Not because she’s
fragile. She’s a base for a cheer team
and arguably the strongest of them. But
in a way, it reminds her how her Dad will always fight for her. It may be just a small reminder that I love
her. And I do. I would be so incredibly sad without her.
God loves us such that He too would grieve if He lost us to
the world. In the story of Joseph in
Genesis, he is sold into slavery by his own brothers. The focus is not on Joseph in these
verses. It is on Jacob, his father. As his children deceive him about his
favorite son, Joseph, we see the level of sorrow with Jacob. This is incredibly sad, and one might wonder
how to endure such grief. As we look at
our relationship with God, we are right to focus how we should better serve
Him. Loving Him above all things, loving
others as ourselves, and breathing life into His word through our actions are
just some of the many things we do as proof of our servitude. But what if we reflect not on our own actions
but also how God would feel? What if our
actions disappoint Him? What if we chose
not to follow Him? Yes, God punishes us
for our failings, but as our Heavenly Father, we must realize our failings
disappoint Him as well. When making
decisions, we should take time to reflect on what impact it has on our
relationship with God for He loves us more than we can ever imagine.
You are a precious gift of God. Jesus in the ‘Parable of the Lost Sheep’
said, “… it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones
should perish.” (Matthew 18:14b) Our
relationship with God hinges heavily on our willingness to submit to His
will. Our successes brings us toward a
more rewarding relationships. Our
failures bring us opportunities to grow.
But whether we succeed or fail, let our understanding of the depths of
our Heavenly Father’s love be a driving force in our actions. How can you meditate on the love God has for
you? How can what breaks God’s heart be
motivation in your life? My prayer is
that we never forget what it means to have a Father’s love.
No comments:
Post a Comment