No Backbone

Joseph’s brothers were driven by jealousy and hatred of him . . . enough to kill him. Now, that’s some serious hatred and jealousy!

Reuben’s plan to not kill Joseph but “put him in the pit to starve to death” was a compromise. Reuben’s intentions of coming back for Joseph, getting him out of the pit, and taking him home seemed right in his own thinking of how to “fix” the situation. But it boomeranged!

Before Reuben could retrieve Joseph out of the pit, Judah came up with another compromise to doing what was right. Let’s sell him to the traders because first, we will get money for Joseph and second, we won’t have a guilty conscience because we have killed him. We’ll dip his robe in animal blood and lie to our father that a wild animal killed Joseph! Let’s see, we didn’t kill him but we lied to our father. What if Joseph had died in another country? Would Judah and his brothers not be responsible for his death?

God’s word says to know the right thing to do and not do it is sin. Compromise destroys our convictions. Without convictions, lack of direction will destroy life, our own and others.

Jealousy and hatred will cause us to think, speak, and do what we never thought we would think, speak, and do!