Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Trampling the grapes of wrath

Friday, March 2, 2018

From Genesis 37
Joseph's brothers said, "Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him, and we could say a wild beast devoured him." But Reuben tried to save him from their hands, saying "We must not take his life."

I want an older brother like that! And I do NOT want a family like Jacob's where brothers and sisters are in such conflict they want to kill. Although I guess the family of humankind qualifies as one of those. And I am a member of that family after all.

In Jesus's story of the vineyard (Matthew 21), a stark division between servants and tenants does result in death. There is no Reuben here, no mediator. After an initial rebuff the vineyard owner sends a bigger army to collect his rents, but the tenants arm themselves too. And there is war on earth. The servants and son are killed, and soon the tenants will be killed as well.

God lets us choose that path of selfishness, division and death. After the killing the landowner finds other tenants and offers them the same deal. He hopes they will choose another way. In the Joseph story, he is rescued from his near-death experience, makes himself at home in Egypt, and eventually provides another way for Jacob's family.

God in heaven and Joseph on earth waste little energy on judgment and condemnation. Instead they spend their time looking for the next good thing. Theirs is not a history of grudges, revenge, bitterness and war but of perseverance, personal responsibility and hope. I think of Thomas Edison's laboratory, where countless experiments failed before one succeeded. I think of Winston Churchill's cry to his people, "Never give up!"

Richard Rohr asks, "What if God creates things that continue to create themselves? God turns everything to good by working together with all things" (Romans 8:28). I want to continue to create myself tomorrow morning, and watch everyone else do that too. New life abounds, new beginnings sprout up everywhere.

Looking at life this way keeps me more free from road rage, just as it keeps countries out of war. It keeps my skin in the game, even as it frees me from fear of failure. I can trust God's eternal plan and not worry so much about my own.

If I am made to be shaped by you every day, Lord, then soften me and make me supple in your hands. There are so many of us in the world, and you are shaping us all. Keep me remembering that we are all in your hands, not just me and the folks like me. Every one of us gets to explore the lines in your palm, and notice how warm your fingers are.

Devotions Archive

Trampling the grapes of wrath

Friday, March 2, 2018