If you have not been spanked as a kid, or if you grew up in a family where you felt safe, well-fed, tucked into bed every night and your siblings were your best friends – count your blessings. Many people did not grow up in a family like this.
If you had a difficult childhood, know you are not alone.
Many families we read about in the Scriptures also had problems.
Adam accused Eve; Cain killed his little brother; Abraham lied to Sarah; Rebecca favored Jacob; Jacob cheated Esau, to name a few.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, who later became prime minister of Egypt, had a very difficult childhood.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, had 12 sons. Jacob loved Joseph more than the others because Joseph was born when Jacob was old.
That did not go well with Joseph’s 11brothers. They hated Joseph.
On top of that, Joseph tattled on his siblings. And his brothers did not appreciate Joseph’s dreams, which implied that all of them, as well as their mom and dad, would bow to him.
“Joseph, go to the fields to see how your brothers are doing. Give me a report when you come back,” Jacob told Joseph one day.
“Look who is coming,” one of Joseph’s brothers told the other siblings when he saw Joseph approaching.
“Let us kill him. Let us kill a goat and soak his clothes in the goat’s blood. Let us tell Dad that Joseph was killed by a wild animal,” one of the siblings proposed.
“No. Instead of killing him, let us drop him in that empty well in the woods and leave him there to die so that we will not have blood in our hands. After all, Joseph is our brother,” suggested another sibling.
They all agreed to drop Joseph into the well and leave him to die.
While eating lunch, one sibling saw a group of merchants coming. “Look, the merchants are passing this way. They must be going to Egypt. Let us sell Joseph to them as a slave.
We can earn a few bucks from the situation,” another sibling suggested.
Joseph shared with his brothers the same father and the same dinner table.
Joseph’s brothers were supposed to look after him but instead, they conspired against him.
Where was Jacob in the picture? Jacob was out of touch. Joseph needed a protector but did not have one. He was neglected and ended up in a dark, far-away place.
Can you imagine how would you feel if your brothers wanted to kill you? How would you feel if your brothers sold you as a slave?
Initially, Joseph chose not to face the past. But he had to face his family when he saw them again, after he had been prime minister of Egypt for nearly a decade.
Joseph at that point carried Pharoah’s seal in his hand and wore a royal robe. He had come a long way from being sold into slavery.
Joseph could travel anywhere in the world, had he wanted to. But Joseph did not to go Canaan, the country of his childhood.
Joseph could have assembled an army and settled the score with his brothers. He had all the resources he needed.
He could have sent a message to his father. He had several years when he could have made up with his family. He knew where to find them, but he chose not to contact them.
Joseph kept his family secrets. He was content to leave his past in the past.
But God was not happy with Joseph’s choice. Restoration matters to God. The healing of the heart involves a healing with the past.
So God shook things up. “All the countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the lands” (Genesis 41:57).
Among the folks in line appealing for an Egyptian handout were Joseph’s brothers (Genesis 42:3).
When his brothers were in line, Joseph detected Hebrew chatter – not only the language of his heart, but also the dialect of his homeland.
Joseph heard his brothers before he saw them. Joseph stood up, looked and there they were – with bigger stomachs and less hair.
They did not recognize Joseph. His beard was shaved, his robe was royal and the language he spoke was Egyptian.
It did not occur to them that they were standing in front of their baby brother.
Thinking that Joseph could not understand Hebrew, his brothers spoke to him with their eyes and with gestures.
When Joseph saw his brothers’ coins, his lips curled and his stomach churned.
Joseph named one of his sons, “Manasseh,” which means “God made me forget”.
The coins made Joseph remember. The last time Joseph saw coins in the hands of his brothers, they were laughing as Joseph was being sold to the merchants.
Joseph had a huge problem. This was the toughest challenge in his life.
Joseph had resisted the seduction of Potiphar’s wife. He had managed assignments from Pharaoh.
Facing the famine was easy in comparison to facing his family.
Joseph did not know what to do with the mixture of hate and hurt he felt when he saw his brothers.
But in the end, with the help of God’s grace, Joseph forgave his brothers. So must we!
Let God heal your heart from hurt.
God healed Joseph’s family and you need to know that God can heal yours, too.