It's the Pits

O.T. #80  "It's the Pits"
July 9, 2013
Genesis 37-Part 5
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.  Genesis 37:20

LET IT GLOW

When I was a child, we had a couple of cherry trees in our yard. I preferred eating those canned
ones you buy at the store instead of the fresh ones, though. Mom and I would pick them off the trees, them take the pits out of each one. She would make a cobbler out of them. It was all right, but you know which one I preferred.

Life isn't always a bowl full of cherries. Often we reap what we've sown or what others have sown.
Sometimes we can't do any more and give up and let God take over. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? There are pits in those beautiful cherries, you know. Can't life be the pits?

Although Joseph had been put into a pit by his brothers and was plotted to be killed, he was not.
At that time a caravan of merchants were coming by and they sold Joseph to them as a slave.
So he got to live. Wasn't it enough to have his brothers mean to him as he grew up?

Although he was absent at the time of the sale, Reuben would be held responsible for the treachery, and so joined in the cover-up (verses 30-35). His grief manifested how much he had actually
wanted to rescue Joseph (42:22). (MacArthur)

When Reuben got back, maybe from tending the sheep and goats, Joseph was not in the pit. Judah  talked the others into selling Joseph instead of killing him.

I wonder what the guys did with the money? Did they go into Schechem to party?

LET IT GROW

Joseph is on his way to Egypt as a slave. The brothers are left holding the bag, I mean coat. The scheme continues. They dip the coat into goat's blood and deceived their father into thinking a
wild beast killed and devoured Joseph. How mean is that?
Jacob knew it was Joseph's coat. He drew the conclusions that his sons wanted.

Years before, Jacob had slain a kid to deceive his father (27:9), and now his sons deceived him the same way. We reap what we sow. Jacob spent the next 22 years in sorrow, thinking that Joseph
was dead. He thought that everything was working against him (42:36), but in reality everything was working for him (Rom. 8:28). God had sent Joseph ahead to prepare the way for Israel's
preservation as a nation. (Wiersbe)

Do we ever feel that way, everyone is against us? Life is dealing you a bad hand? Are you in a
pit? God is still in control, friend. Trust Him. I am in that pit. There is nothing else that I can do. I have turned the situation over to God for Him to handle.

Romans 8:28 in NIV says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love him, who had been called according to His purpose.

LET IT GO

I pray for the people involved in the situation and God's mercy as He works things out.

Trusting Jesus, even when things go wrong in my eyes.

Love Jesus, love others.

Let Jesus be in the pit with me.