CENTRAL THOUGHT
The Holy Spirit helps believers to handle hurts and offences.
TEXT: GENESIS 37:1-36
INTRODUCTION:
Joseph was a beloved son of his father, Jacob who made a coat of many colors of him because he was a son of his old age. His brothers envied him because of the dreams God gave him about his future. This led to his brothers planning to get rid of him. Despite all that was done against Joseph: the multiple hurts and offences he suffered in the hands of his brothers in his father’s house and the ones he suffered in the hands of Potiphar’s wife in Egypt, he did not repay any of them evil for evil. Rather he followed the Biblical injunction that says “recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom.12:17).
In this study, we shall be looking at how we can successfully handle hurts and offences we encounter in our relationships with others. We shall adopt the life of Joseph as a model.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
- To explain with relevant examples what “hurts” and “offences” mean and what the common causes of hurst and offences are.
- Identify the issues that must have hurt or offended Joseph.
- State how Joseph reacted when he saw his brothers and how his knowledge of God helped him in handling the hurts and offences. State lessons we can learn from it.
BIBLE TRUTH:
QUESTION 1A) EXPLAIN WITH RELEVANT EXAMPLES WHAT “HURTS” AND “OFFENCES” MEAN.
Hurt can be explained as causing bodily injury to someone, to injure, to cause bodily pain. It can also mean to feel or suffer bodily or mental pain or distress. Common examples of hurt include bodily injuries sustained as a result of a fall, knife cuts or loss of a tooth. These are examples of hurts which are physical in nature. Another form of hurt may not necessarily be physical but emotional, or psychological. This form of hurt could manifest in the form of causing someone to have a feeling of distress by our behaviors, utterances or even our actions towards them. Wrong accusations, back biting and bearing false witness against others can also be hurtful.
Great illustrated dictionary defines offence as the act of offending or causing anger, resentment or displeasure. It can also mean attacking or assaulting.
QUESTION 1B) WHAT ARE SOME COMMON CAUSES OF HURTS AND OFFENCES? (GEN. 37:1-36) There are many causes of hurts and offences. Some of the common causes include the following:
Hatred: Hatred has to do with having intense dislike for something or someone. It can also manifest in the form of hostile actions motivated by intense dislike or prejudice against someone. Joseph was loved by his father more than all his other children, because he was the son of his old age. Jacob made a coat of many colors for Joseph. This made Joseph’s brothers to hate him. Also, when Joseph dreamed a dream and narrated it to his brothers, they hated him the more. As believers, we should not hate but love one another.
Envy: This is a feeling of discontent or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possession or qualities. Sometimes people do not appreciate what qualities or possessions they have and always want to be like the other person. When they perceive that the person in question has an edge over them, they envy him. Joseph’s brothers envied him because of the dreams he had. Even his father rebuked him on hearing of the dream. We should not envy others. Whatever God has purposed someone, He will surely accomplish it for that person. Rather than being envious of others, we should appreciate the grace of God upon their lives while trusting God to accomplish His purpose in our own lives.
Conspiracy: This has to do with a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful to other people or persons. It can also refer to an action of plotting against someone. When Joseph’s brothers saw him afar off, they plotted to kill him. They thought that by killing Joseph, they would kill his God given dreams. God will certainly preserve His children who live upright, such that no weapon formed against them will prosper.
Murder: In a bid to get rid of Joseph and his dreams, his brothers planned to kill him and then go home to tell their father that an animal had killed him. They wanted to give a reason that would exonerate them from their brother’s death. Fortunately, Reuben, Jacob’s first son spoke out against the evil plot. This was the reason Joseph’s life was spared at that point in time.
Falsehood: It is generally said that one evil leads to another evil if not checked. In all the wicked actions of Joseph’s brothers against him, they carried home a false report in order to cover up their evil deeds.
We must be careful to shun all forms of hurts and offences towards others. We must remember this “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal.6:7).
QUESTION 2) WHAT WERE THE ISSUES THAT MUST HAVE HURT OR OFFENDED JOSEPH? (GEN.37:21-28; 39:10-20)
The issues that must have hurt or offended Joseph are from two scenarios, namely in his own brother’s and in Potiphar’s house in Egypt.
Joseph must have felt hurt when he heard his brother’s plans to get rid of him. When Joseph got to where his brothers were, they stripped him of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him. After this, Joseph’s brothers took him and cast him into a pit, an empty pit in which there was no water. Joseph was later lifted out of the pit, sold to the Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver and he was subsequently brought to Egypt as a slave. A favorite son of his father found himself as a commodity of merchandise in a foreign land. This must have been a painful experience for Joseph.
On arrival in Egypt, Joseph was sold as a slave to Potiphar, the captain of the king’s guard. He was a dutiful slave into whose hands his master committed all he had to manage. Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to lay with her. Joseph refused because he did not want to sin against God. One day as he was carrying out his duty in the master’s house, the woman caught Joseph, by his garment asking him to lay with her. Jospeh left his garment in the hands of Potiphar’s wife in a bid to escape and fled. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph to her husband, that Joseph wanted to forcefully lay with her and when she shouted for people to come, Joseph fled leaving his garment with her. When the matter was reported to Potiphar, he did not give Joseph any opportunity to speak. Joseph was sent straight to the prison by his master. Joseph went through all these ordeals without being given an opportunity to defend himself.
QUESTION 3A) HOW DID JOSEPH REACT WHEN HE SAW HIS BROTHERS? (GEN.43:16-34; 45:1-15)
When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them but they did not recognize him; he instructed that they should be brought into his house. He told his domestic staff to make ready a meal so that his brothers can dine with him at noon. Joseph was very kind to his brothers and never showed sign of bitterness towards them.
He was very emotional to the extent that he secretly wept. He was glad that he reunited with his brothers as he made himself known to them and said to them that he was their brother, whom they had sold into Egypt. Joseph told his brothers not to be grieved or angry with themselves that they sold him out. He saw it as God sending him to Egypt to preserve lives and preserve them a prosperity in the earth and to save their lives by great deliverance. (Gen.45:7-8). Joseph attributed all that had happened to him as a way of God lifting him to be a ruler in Egypt. Arrangements were made for all the family members of Joseph to relocate to Egypt. Jacob was finally reunited with Joseph his beloved son even in his lifetime.
QUESTION 3B) HOW DID JOSEPH’S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD HELP HANDLING THE HURTS AND OFFENCES? ANY LESSONS? (GEN.45:5-8)
Joseph’s knowledge of God helped him greatly in handling the hurts and offences that he experienced. He believed that God is over all. God is able to bring good outcomes from bad situations. He believed that his being in Egypt at such a time was divinely designed by God in order to preserve the lives of his family members among others.
The lesson from this is that believers should trust God, commit their lives to God no matter what they are passing through. We should understand that the experience of Joseph was not a matter of days, weeks, months, but spanned through several years during which his trust in God never waned but was unshaken. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Ps.34:19). We must realize this. The scripture says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom.8:28). We should not despair (lose all hope) in the face of adversity because God is with us. “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” (Prov.24:10). Therefore, we should never give up.
DAILY LIVING APPLICATION:
We have a lot to learn from the manner and approach Joseph took in handling the hurts he experienced from his brothers and from the house of Potiphar in Egypt. Joseph’s knowledge of God helped him to forgive all those who may have offended him in the course of all his trials/travails. Forgiveness is like a medicine (balm) that cures wounds that result from hurts and offences. Let us learn to forgive others, not because they deserve it, but we need the peace that comes with forgiveness.
MEMORY VERSE:
MATTHEW 6:15
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”.
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Mon: Hatred and envy breeds offence: Gen.37:3-10.
Tue: Plot to kill offends/hurts: Gen.37:21-28.
Wed: Joseph’s hurt in Potiphar’s house:Gen.39:10-20.
Thu: Reflect on Ps.34:19.
Fri: Joseph relates with his brothers again: Gen.43:16-34; 45:1-15.
Sat: Joseph knew God intimately to handle hurts and offences: Gen.45:5-8.