LW_Mag_WINTER_FINAL (1) 2014 | Page 11

GIVING. PRAYING. FASTING 11 Wisdom for Wednesdays & Everydayof Your Life PRAISE & THE PIT “ “ By Sabrina White And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelite’s... Genesis 37:26-27 From time to time, I find myself going back to the book of Genesis and re-reading the stories of which we are all familiar: the creation, the fall of man, the flood, the tower of Babel, etc. Recently I found myself parked in front of Genesis 37: the beginning of Joseph’s story. Of course you recall that Joseph was adored by his father Jacob. As a symbol of his affection, Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors. This blatant display of favoritism didn’t sit too well with his brothers- and they began to hate him. To make matters worse, Joseph was a master dreamermeaning he not only dreamed- but had the gift of interpretation. His dreams were grand! He was going to be a ruler and his family would be forced to bow down to him. Such a message did not resonate well with the brothers who hated him. One day his father sent him to check on his brothers who were tending sheep. The brothers saw him coming from afar and began plotting his demise. Their plan was to kill him and throw him a pit. Then tell his father that he had been killed by a wild beast. Reuben, the oldest brother, instructed them not to kill him but rather to just throw him in the pit with no water and leave him there to die. The bible indicates however that it was Reuben’s plan to go back and get Joseph and return him safely to their father.