CIRCUIT OVERSEER
TALK, Sunday 2nd November 2014
DO NOT LET YOUR
CIRCUMSTANCES CONTROL YOUR LIFE
How do we feel when
we are victims of injustice, and when we see all the injustice around us?
And every one of us
is a victim of injustice. We are born
imperfect and dying - we all suffer because of what Satan and our first parents
did. We suffer from our own
imperfections - we become sick and die - and we suffer because we are no longer
living in Paradise, but in a world full of injustice and violence.
How should we deal
with it? We are going to see how, with
Jehovah's guidance, we can turn this negative situation into a positive, so
that it doesn't overwhelm us.
We then read Proverbs 24:10: "If you become discouraged in the day of distress, Your strength will be
meagre..
It's so easy to be
discouraged but whatever the situation, we can take control. How?
We then studied the
example of Joseph - his behaviour in the face of injustice upon injustice.
We started with
Genesis 37:3,4: "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons because he was the
son of his old age, and he had a special robe made for him. When his
brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began
to hate him, and they could not speak peaceably to him."
Joseph was only
17. It was not his fault he was his
father's favourite, but it greatly enraged his brothers.
Did he wear this
special robe often, too often? Probably. Would it have been more tactful not to? Yes, but he was only a teenager.
We then looked at
verses 5 to 11 (in Genesis 37): " Later Joseph had a
dream and told it to his brothers, and they found further reason to hate him.
He said to them: “Please listen to this dream that I had. There we were binding
sheaves in the middle of the field when my sheaf got up and stood erect and
your sheaves encircled and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to
him: “Are you really going to make yourself king over us and dominate us?” So
they found another reason to hate him, because of his dreams and what he said.
After that he had still another dream, and he related it to his brothers:
“I have had another dream. This time the sun and the moon and 11 stars were bowing
down to me.” Then he related it to his father as well as his brothers,
and his father rebuked him and said to him: “What is the meaning of this dream
of yours? Am I as well as your mother and your brothers really going to come
and bow down to the earth to you?” And his brothers grew jealous of him,
but his father kept the saying in mind."
This dream told
Joseph that there would come a time when not only his brothers, but his parents too, would bow down to him. Being
seventeen, naive, exuberant, he rushed to tell them. It goes down, as the Speaker says, "like
a lead balloon" with his brothers.
But his father is more thoughtful about it.
We then looked at
verse 18 in the same chapter: "Now they caught sight of him from a distance, and before he reached
them, they began plotting against him to put him to death."
That robe again! Is that why they saw him from a distance?
We then read verses
19 and 20: " So they said to one another: “Look! Here comes that
dreamer. Come, now, let us kill him and pitch him into one of the waterpits,
and we will say that a vicious wild animal devoured him. Then let us see what
will become of his dreams.”
This shows the
hatred his brothers had for him.
The Speaker then
read verses 26-28: "At this Judah said to his brothers: “What profit
would there be if we killed our brother and covered over his blood? Come,
now, let us sell him to the Ish′ma·el·ites, and do not let our hand be upon
him. After all, he is our brother, our flesh.” So they listened to their brother.
And when the Mid′i·an·ite merchants were passing by, they lifted Joseph up out
of the waterpit and sold him to the Ish′ma·el·ites for 20 pieces of silver.
These men took Joseph into Egypt."
His brothers sold
him for the price of a slave. How must
Joseph have felt? He was only 17, none
of this was his fault, he had done nothing wrong, apart from possibly being a
bit tactless. He must have begged and pleaded with his brothers not to do this,
but they sold him anyway.
He was then sold
into Egypt, into the House of Potiphar.
Then, heaping injustice on injustice, when he was in his twenties,
Joseph was imprisoned on false charges because he turned down the advances of
Potiphar's wife.
Genesis 39:9: "There is no one greater in this house than I am, and he has not withheld
from me anything at all except you, because you are his wife. So how could I
commit this great badness and actually sin against God?”
Psalm
105:17,18: "He sent ahead of them a man Who was sold to be a slave, Joseph.
With fetters they bound his feet; His neck was put in irons"
He was confined in
very cruel conditions, yet Joseph was innocent.
The Speaker then read Genesis 41:46: "Joseph was 30
years old when he stood before Phar′aoh king of Egypt. Then Joseph went out
from before Phar′aoh and traveled throughout all the land of Egypt."
He was sold into
slavery at 17 - and released from prison at the age of 30. So he spent 13 years in captivity - a
lifetime at that age - and all because of jealousy. He had strong reasons to be resentful about
his stolen life.
So how did Joseph
make something so positive out of it?
We can learn three
lessons:
1. Let go of resentment.
2. Make the best of whatever situation we are
in now.
3. Wait on Jehovah.
That is what Joseph
did. He had an extraordinary life. He went from slave to prisoner to Prime
Minister - becoming the second most important man in the land! He became the Food Administrator for the
whole of Egypt
When he was in his
late thirties, his father, Jacob, sent his sons to Egypt to obtain food, as
Canaan was undergoing the severe famine prophesied in Pharaoh's dream. The sons came in to the Food Administrator,
and did obeisance to him. So his dream
came true.
They have no idea
that he is their brother - there is an interpreter between them - they don't
even know he can understand what they are saying. But he knows who they are.
Genesis 42:21-25: "And they said to
one another: “We are surely being punished on account of our brother, because
we saw his distress when he begged us to show compassion, but we did not
listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” Then Reu′ben
answered them: “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not sin against the child,’ but you
would not listen? Now his blood is certainly being asked back.” But they
did not know that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.
So he turned away from them and began to weep. When he returned and spoke
to them again, he took Sim′e·on from them and bound him before their eyes.
Joseph then gave the command to fill up their bags with grain and to
return each man’s money to his own sack and to give them provisions for the
journey. This was done for them."
Here Joseph is given
a perfect opportunity to take revenge - yet he does the opposite. He brings his brothers and their families to
Egypt and places them in the Land of Goshen, the best of the land. However, later, when their father dies, the
brothers worry that Joseph might have been holding back for the sake of his
father, and that he will now take his revenge.
Genesis
50:18-21: "Then his brothers also came and fell down before
him and said: “Here we are as slaves to you!” Joseph said to them: “Do
not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? Although you meant to harm me,
God intended it to turn out well and to preserve many people alive, as he is
doing today. So now do not be afraid. I will keep supplying you and your
little children with food.” Thus he comforted them and spoke reassuringly to
them."
He did not hold one
ounce of resentment - he had truly let it go.
Here is the example
for us. Whatever the wrong, can we let it go?
Don't be eaten up by the injustice, as resentment can do even more harm
than the injustice itself.
We can control our
reactions. I notice that I have
underlined the following Scripture in my notes:
Romans
12:17-19: " Return evil for evil to no one. Take into consideration what is fine
from the viewpoint of all men. If possible, as far as it depends on you,
be peaceable with all men. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield
place to the wrath; for it is written: “‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says
Jehovah.”"
The second lesson is
that we can and should make the best of the situation we are in now. Give attention to what we can do, and do
it. Genesis 39:4 says: "Joseph kept
finding favour in his eyes, and he became his personal attendant. So he
appointed him over his house, and he put him in charge of all that was
his."
That is what Joseph
did, and Jehovah blessed him for it.
When he was in prison, did he give up?
Did he "put his feet up and play his xbox games"? No.
Genesis 39:21-23
tells us: " But Jehovah continued with Joseph and kept showing loyal love to him and
granting him favour in the eyes of the chief officer of the prison. So the
chief officer of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the
prison, and everything that they were doing there, he was the one having it
done. The chief officer of the prison was looking after absolutely
nothing that was in Joseph’s care, for Jehovah was with Joseph and Jehovah made
whatever he did successful."
Joseph refused to be
controlled by circumstances - he turned to Jehovah for help, and how
wonderfully Jehovah helped him.
This is such a good
lesson for us. We can still serve Jah no
matter what our circumstances.
Philippians 4:11-13
shows us how well Paul knew that: "Not that I am saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be
self-sufficient regardless of my circumstances. I know how to be low on
provisions and how to have an abundance. In everything and in all circumstances
I have learned the secret of both how to be full and how to hunger, both how to
have an abundance and how to do without. For all things I have the strength
through the one who gives me power."
But we can't do this
in our own strength, we must always rely on Jehovah, our Creator.
So, to summarise, we
can let go of resentment, make the best of our circumstances, and rely on
Jehovah.
The Speaker closed
with three Bible verses:
Genesis 45:5: "But now do not be
upset and do not reproach one another because you sold me here; because God has
sent me ahead of you for the preservation of life."
Micah 7:7: "But as for me, I
will keep on the lookout for Jehovah. I will show a waiting attitude for the
God of my salvation. My God will hear me."
Psalm 34:8:
"Taste and see that Jehovah is good; Happy is the
man who takes refuge in him."
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