GENESIS 50:14-21 – After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE DANGER IN MAKING ASSUMPTIONS. Fear is a powerful emotion. It affects the entire person. People will not eat because of fear which may lead to significant physical consequences. Many sleepless nights come due to fear causing a weakened mental and spiritual alertness that puts us in dangerous spiritual places and easy prey for sin and Satan. Fear will also create a lot of negative “what ifs” in life that paralyze us and leads to making assumptions, false ones, of imaginary dangers. The last one is what we read about in today’s scripture and Joseph’s brothers. Here is the situation.
Their father, Jacob, died. Joseph led the family and others into his homeland to bury him and returned to Egypt. Enter fear. The brothers made the assumption Joseph would turn on them since the father was out of the picture – When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” Where was the evidence that was true? There wasn’t any. The opposite was true. Joseph’s past actions were affirming. He took care of his family, even his brothers who greatly mistreated him. And here is what fear does. It distorts reality, makes assumptions, and leads to further God-dishonoring action. What was the action? They lied to protect themselves – So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Do we read anywhere that Jacob told his sons to instruct Joseph to forgive them? Warren Wiersbe commenting, “Afraid to approach Joseph personally, they sent a message to him, hoping to convince him. Did Jacob actually speak the words they quoted? Probably not. If Jacob had wanted to intercede for the guilty sons, he could easily have done it when he was alone with Joseph. And he had seventeen years in which to do it! It’s likely that the brothers concocted this story, hoping that Joseph’s love for his father would give him a greater love for his brothers.” The brothers made a wrong assumption based on a false fear they believed.
But behind making false assumptions out of fear is something worse. It causes us to think wrong of the person or persons we are making assumptions about. Rarely, when the fear of “what if” is gripping us do we think or make good assumptions of the person or situation causing the fear. And for Christians, if we are making fearful assumptions about another believer, we are attacking their character and being unloving – the very opposites of being like the Lord Jesus.
Assumptions. Be careful. Be slow to make them, and don’t let sinful fear fuel the fire in making them. Nothing good ever comes from such actions and words.
PRAYER: “Father, help me not to be quick to make assumptions about people that are negative and unedifying.”
QUOTE: “Fight against assumptions. They are based on limited information and observation containing incomplete truth.”