Genesis 37 Devotional

The Pit Is Not the End

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”Genesis 37:4 (BSB)

Joseph's story begins with a family that has learned nothing from the last generation. Jacob openly favors Joseph and gives him a special robe, and his brothers hate him for it (37:3-4). Joseph's dreams of his family bowing to him make it worse. When he comes to check on them in the fields, they strip off the robe, throw him into a dry pit, and sell him to traders for twenty pieces of silver (37:23-28). They dip the robe in goat's blood and let their father believe a wild animal has killed him. Jacob refuses to be comforted (37:35).

God is not named anywhere in this chapter, and every human choice in it is wrong. But the chapter ends with a quiet note: Joseph has been sold in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh (37:36). The story is not over. Much later, Joseph will say that God was at work through all of it (50:20). The worst day of your life is not the end of God's story.

To think about: What painful chapter in your life do you need to trust God is still writing?