THE CARER AND THE MURDERER


So Jacob said to him, "Go now and check on the welfare of your brothers and of the flocks, and bring me word." So Jacob sent him from the valley of Hebron.


Now Joseph's brothers saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. (Genesis 37:14, 18)


How could Joseph have known that his brothers hated him so much? In his heart, he loved them and cared about them. When his father sent him after his brothers, the instruction was, "GO AND CHECK THE WELFARE OF YOUR BROTHERS." Even his father knew that Joseph had an undying love for his brothers. Joseph wandered in the wilderness and was not at peace until someone could direct him to where the brothers were grazing the flock. That was a reflection of his loving heart.


Conversely, when his brothers saw him from afar, they did not see a loving, tired, and wandering brother. What they resolved was: "LET'S KILL HIM." Indeed, they carried out their evil intention by selling Joseph into the hands of strangers.


We are living in a strange world—very strange and dangerous, one might say. Those in whom you have invested so much are often the ones who carry the potential to harm and destroy you.


It's difficult to assess the heart of a man: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Only God has the capacity to know the heart of a man. In spite of all the odds and challenges of life, Joseph did not change his disposition towards his brothers: "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you." And they came near. And he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land; and yet there are five years, in which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." (Genesis 45:4-8)


As we navigate through this new month, kindly examine your heart and your disposition towards others. Are you sure you're carrying a loving heart or a murderous heart?


Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)


Stay safe and enjoy the blessings from above.

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