By Surath Fernando
Abraham’s descendants in Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph follow in his
footsteps through their faith in God. However, they all go through very
different paths, with different weaknesses and redeeming traits.
Isaac was a loyal man. In a time where polygamy seemed the norm, he
took one wife whom he loved dearly. However, his sin was to favour Esau over
Jacob.
Whilst many of us are not at this stage of life, a father must
always try to both love and accept his children equally. In this instance, this
balance of love was lacking. And as often happens when there is a lack of
balance, events conspire to equalize the scales. In this instance, Rebekah
influencing Jacob to obtain Esau's blessings with trickery.
Jacob was someone who I found difficult to empathize with at the
beginning. He was a trickster who lied and cheated into God’s blessings. And
whilst he himself got tricked by Laban, he uses his wiles to obtain a great
deal of Laban’s life stock.
In fact, it is only upon his return and his fight with God, that
leaves him with a broken hip, does he appear to change his ways. Then he
appears as the prodigal son. The takeaway for me here is how a very flawed
character can be redeemed by God, not because of who he is, but rather because
of who God is!
Joseph's story is what spoke the most to me. The man was clearly
blessed by God and given the gift of wisdom and knowledge. When he was young,
he used these gifts unwisely and incurred the wrath of his family.
At this point, I want to raise how we as people use our gifts
without understanding the effects they have on others. I have been guilty of
this in the past and am attempting to be more mindful of others.
But to Joseph's credit, despite his circumstances, he used his gifts
and his strong work ethic to rise up the Egyptian ranks. But the key difference
here is how he begins to acknowledge and recognize God’s influence in his
success. He begins to glorify God through his success. This is not so apparent
in the beginning. I feel this is what we need to do. To remember that the gifts
and talents we have are but a reflection of God working through us. All we have
to do is have a positive, hardworking, faith-filled attitude like Joseph.
The other thing I noticed about Joseph is how he starts off
maintaining control of his emotions. He will go and hide instead of weeping
openly. This is due to his title as an important person in Egypt. However, with
time, he appears to surrender to his emotions. He is found weeping openly in front
of his brothers and father.
We also live in a society where we control our emotions for fear of
being seen as weak. But if we learn what these emotions are telling us, they
can give us tremendous insight and power.
That's it from me. I have enjoyed the Patriarchs section. Joseph is
my clear favourite. He is intelligent, wise, humble and a master strategist. He
forgave and had trust in God’s plan. Through this, he was able to save all of
Egypt and his people.
No comments:
Post a Comment