{"id":4114,"date":"2022-07-20T10:24:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T15:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4114"},"modified":"2022-07-20T10:24:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T15:24:14","slug":"devotional-on-genesis-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-genesis-37\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Genesis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-UcM_zD94G1E\/XNrsVG1WGAI\/AAAAAAAA7Vw\/1cvPNRYk6joOqk-q6fB6yZ9jjPlEl13swCKgBGAs\/s1600\/2013-09-23%2B18.37.13.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2013 &#8211; Floating Mill Park &#8211; Silver Point, TN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Talk about sibling rivalry!<br \/>\nGenesis 37: The story continues with Joseph.<br \/>\nThings finally settle down for Jacob and his journeys come to an end. His many children grow up as he and his wives grow old. It\u2019s time to focus on the next generation. Jacob\u2019s multiple wives plus their maid servants have produced lots of kids, especially sons. The fundamental flaw of this polygamous system is apparent in Jacob\u2019s having a favorite wife who, in turn produces favorite children. The women struggled with this approach and their children aren\u2019t as docile about it as their mothers were. Their sibling rivalry is similar to what their father and his brother experienced decades earlier. When Jacob makes it clear that Joseph is his favorite the other brothers band together in their hatred of him. It\u2019s only a matter of time before this pot boils over and the day comes when the brothers are given a golden opportunity to act against Joseph. At the last minute they modify their plan and rather than murder him they sell him into slavery instead. The thing that comes to mind as I consider this story is the amazing flexibility of God. He works through situations that are mishandled. Had the brothers gotten along I still think Joseph would have become a powerful man. I also think all of their lives would have been easier. Still, when they act as they do, the Lord\u2019s purpose isn\u2019t ruined and the Lord immediately goes to work to accomplish his purpose while honoring their free will. As I read this story, I\u2019m reminded that it\u2019s better cooperate with what God wants in the first place and enjoy his blessing along the way. Still, while the Lord holds me accountable for how I live my life; poor decisions on my part will never negate his ultimate purposes in the world.<br \/>\nTake away: God always honors free will, but he doesn\u2019t let our failures stop him from accomplishing his purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talk about sibling rivalry! Genesis 37: The story continues with Joseph. Things finally settle down for Jacob and his journeys come to an end. His many children grow up as he and his wives grow old. It\u2019s time to focus on the next generation. Jacob\u2019s multiple wives plus their maid servants have produced lots of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1497,7],"tags":[127,156,345,373],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13750,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4114\/revisions\/13750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}