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Posted by
Dion Todd April 4, 2015 -
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Devotional
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So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. Here comes that dreamer! they said to each other. Come now, lets kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then well see what comes of his dreams. Genesis 37:1720 NIV
Joseph had it all. He was his fathers favorite, God had given him dreams showing that he would be a ruler, his father had given him an ornate coat of many colors, and he was a prince. Life should have been great except that his brothers were very jealous and most of them wanted to kill him. Reuben tried to save him and got him thrown into an empty well. The only thing that stopped them was his brother Judah who told them, after all he is our brother, our own flesh, so they all compromised on selling him as a slave.
Joseph was just a boy and he had no control over this. He was just doing what his father had told him. It was not his fault that bad things were done to him by others, even his loved ones. He was not at fault, and his father still loved him dearly. Going from a prince to a dark pit, to being a slave, to being falsely accused of attempted rape and then serving time in prison, Josephs life went into a downward spiral. It was a very dark time for him but it did not end there. Eventually, Joseph became the ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself and his dreams came true.
When people are abused as a child they often blame themselves. Things that happened to you when you were young were not your fault. You had no control over that! Lay it down. Like Joseph, forgive, and in doing so you will free yourself as well. Do not let things that happened years ago, that you had no control over, drain your energy today. Your Father loves you and wants you to focus on your future, not your unchangeable past.