CHAPTER ONE
A DIAMOND IN
THE ROUGH
R T Kendall starts his first chapter “A
diamond in the rough” by pointing out that Joseph’s story starts at age
17. Chapter 37 verse 2 states “Joseph
brought unto his father their (his brothers) evil report.” This means he regularly did this. There is nothing to say that will make Joseph
look good. This just added to his
father’s sorrow and it got his brothers into trouble.
Do I like a tattletale? Surely this made his brothers very angry and
caused jealousy. There are 2 things that
make a tattletale – self-righteousness and the pursuit of self-vindication.
Joseph was self-righteous but God can use
him. We are all like Joseph. Genesis tells us that Joseph brought his
father an evil report on his brothers.
Why is this included? Because the
bible tells us both the good and the bad about its people. We don’t have to be perfect to be wonderfully
used by God. Hallelujah!
Joseph was his father’s favourite child –
Genesis 37 verse 3 tells us “Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his
children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many
colours.” There were some advantages to
being the favourite but not always and Joseph suffered because of it. Being the favourite of our parents might tend
to give us self-confidence but it also alienates us from others. Joseph had some relationship and personality
problems. Yes he would be used by God
but not yet! Am I ready to be used by
God? Only God knows if we are
ready! For Joseph it meant a lot of his
personality had to be sorted out. We
could make the excuse that we are the way we are because of our parents – it is
easy to blame our parents for the way we are.
But it does not rule us out of being used by God for he can deal with
us. He dealt with Joseph. A sovereign God purged all the happy
trimmings that accompanied Joseph’s favoured life.
Parents have faults too – Joseph was born
to his father when he was old but that is no excuse. Nothing is more ridiculous than being bitter
against our parents all our lives. We
must sort ourselves out and let God deal with us until we take the
responsibility for being just like we are.
Jacob thought he was doing a good thing by
giving Joseph a coat – it was a richly ornamented robe according to the
NIV. But Jacob did Joseph no favour in
doing this. Worse than making it through
was wearing it. Joseph was happy to put
it on. He was a spoiled, arrogant
teenager who was utterly insensitive to his brothers’ feelings.
Look at the brothers’ reaction – Genesis 37
verse 4 “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all
his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.” A predictable reaction - Jacob should have
thought of that. Jacob did this to the
son that he loved so much, turning his other sons against Joseph. Joseph’s coat of many colours did more for
Jacob than it did for Joseph. Being
partial is not a sign of love but a demonstration of our own weakness, which we
are also passing on to a child.
Joseph was off to a bad start. All we have seen about Joseph so far was a
blueprint that spelled trouble for the rest of his life.
I love the fact that you cannot take a
passage of scripture in isolation from the rest of the bible – to me it is like
one big jigsaw puzzle, fitting together as you get to know more and more of
scripture. One of the keys to
understanding Joseph is provided by Stephen in Acts 7 verse 9 “God was with
him.” If God is with us, there is no
impediment, no personality difficulty and no problem about glass or background
that can stand in the way of God making us a mighty instrument for our
day. God was with Joseph and he had a
gift that would shape his own life and also the life of Israel. God gave him dreams which may not sound very
impressive. Whoever would have thought a
gift like that could mean so much? God
has given me something that nobody else has because God has made me different!
We are all different from everyone else,
affirming the gift God has given us is a way of glorifying our Creator. Subsequent events in Joseph’s life would
reveal that this gift, this dreaming which apparently included an ability to
interpret dreams, saved his own life and the lives of his family.
But Joseph made a mistake. He told his dreams to his brothers and they
hated him all the more. Genesis 37
verses 6 and 7 “And he said unto them, Hear I pray you, this dream which I have
dreamed. For behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo, my sheaf arose
and also stood upright and behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made
obeisance to my sheaf.” It was not very
kind or clever to tell a dream like that.
It is possible to abuse the gifts God has
given us. It has sometimes been said
that a man’s genius is also his downfall.
And Joseph, by abusing this gift was alienating his brothers all the
more. At this stage Joseph had now made
3 mistakes:
1. He
was a tattletale
2. He flaunted his coat of many colours
3. He abused he gift God gave him – he should
have kept the contents of his dream to himself.
Has God revealed something to me that I
have a selfish need to tell others about it?
Why do I want to tell it? Is it
for admiration or acceptance? God will
exalt me in due time. I don’t have to
tell anybody! If I have made a mistake
and God has not shown me something I will be very glad I kept quiet about
it. It will save me from being
embarrassed later on. Paul said “whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail” 1 Corinthians 13 verse 8. If God has revealed something to me and I
tell it to everyone, I may wait a long, long time to be vindicated.
The fact that we have a gift from God does
not guarantee we will have the wisdom or common sense to use it. Joseph told the dream and it did not take any
“dream expert” to give the interpretation.
Joseph’s brothers got the message like a flash. Genesis 37 verse 8 “And his brethren said to
him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shall thou indeed have dominion over
us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.” They hated him even more. It didn’t do any good telling his brothers
the dream. Flaunting a gift springs from
a desire to be admired. But the result
is always the opposite. It makes people
positively dislike us.
As I have been writing this I have been
doing a lot of “soul searching”. Is this
what happened at the beginning of 2024.
Did I use my gift of being able to teach children, lead the womens
meetings and play the organ as a way of flaunting myself? Was there an element of jealousy on the part
of some people in the church? Did I
think of myself as better than others, that I could do all this and no-one else
could? Did I push myself too far forward
and that is why I was disliked? God you
are searching my heart right now, please continue to help me work this out in
my head.
Joseph was not ready to be used of
God. His gift was in good shape but he
was not. Many of us may think we are
right and ready because the gift is in operation. But God knows better. God had a plan for Joseph and for his
people. Do we have a gift? Have we abused it? My counsel is to be sure that we have given
ourselves completely to God. We may say
“if I give myself to God, my gift will never be known.” I promise you, the only
way our gift can be of value is for it to be sanctified and in the hands of our
Creator and Redeemer. When we give our
lies utterly to God, even the silly mistakes we have made will turn out for
good. We may even be tempted in the end
to say, “That the way I was supposed to do it”.
This is that wonderful truth – “All things work together for good” Romans
8 verse 28. The most stupid things we
have done turn our right. God does that!
What Joseph needed was preparation and
polishing. We “must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” Acts 14 verse 22. “The God of all grace, who called you to his
eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and
establish you.” (1 Peter 5 verse 10). “The
Lord will perfect that which concerneth me” Psalm 138 verse 8. This may require some kind of suffering.
We have been predestined “to be conformed
to the image of his Son.” (Romans 8 verse 29).
The day will eventually come when he can begin to use us.
.
Why had Joseph not learned to keep his
mouth shut by now? He was only making
matters worse by telling his brothers. Genesis
37 verse 9”And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren”. Why had he not learned? The reason?
He had not yet been truly chastened.
The reason God lets us suffer is to chip away what it not like Jesus,
otherwise, we will keep on making the same old mistakes. We may say “Why do I do that all the
time?” Perhaps it is because we have not
yet submitted ourselves to God’s refining fires. James says “count it all joy when ye fall
into divers temptations” James 1 verse 2.
The next time a trial comes rather than battle it out or try to be rid
of it, or grumble the whole time, accept it graciously. See what God does. Otherwise, we will eventually have to suffer
what is almost unbearable because nothing else will work. God has to do that with all of us. It is the suffering that we should cherish
most – not the blessings, not the bouquets and not the compliments, but the suffering.
Why did God keep giving Joseph these
dreams? We would have expected God to
say “Ah I see you are going to abuse your gift; I am going to have to stop
giving you any more dreams.” But the
bible says that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans
11 verse 29) This means they are
irrevocable. If God gives us a gift, we
can keep using it because he does not take it away. Yet the continued use of a gift does not
imply that everything else about us is right.
The gift God gives us is like the salvation he gives us – he does not
take it away – it is irrevocable. So
here is Joseph – the gift is in operation and he is repeating the same old
mistakes.
What did Joseph do next? He was really getting carried away. Not only did he tell his second dream to his
brothers – he told his father. Genesis
37 verse 10 “And he told it to his father and to his brethren ad his father
rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed?
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to
thee to the earth?” Although Joseph went
too far by revealing great things to those who could not handle them, it is
still obvious that God’s Spirit was at work.
It is too easy to say that unless everything goes exactly right, God is
not in it. Joseph went too far, but who
can deny that an authentic work was set in operation in him? Joseph did not anticipate he would offend his
father. When Joseph told his dream, he
thought his father was going to like it.
He thought his father would clap his hands and say “Well done, Joseph.”
Joseph was beginning the process of being
emancipated from his father. Matthew 10
verses 36 and 37 “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.”
Jacob the doting father, had manipulated
Joseph. Joseph was now having to show he
would not be completely controlled by his father. It was not pleasant for Joseph to be rebuked
over what he thought would please his father.
But then we read one other thing in this connection. Although Jacob rebuked him, Jacob “observed
the saying” Genesis 37 verse 11. The NIV
puts is “his father kept the matter in mind.”
Jacob somehow knew in his heart that there was indeed something to
Joseph’s dream.
Joseph was what we call a “type of Christ”,
one who makes you think of Jesus long before he ever came along. Joseph was a type of Christ but he never
sinned. Jacob loved Joseph and God loved
his Son. But God loves his Son perfectly
and with a love with which we too are loved – “God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish but have everlasting life.” John 3 verse 16 Joseph was a product of his father, and Jesus
was a product of his Father; Jesus was the perfect man. Jesus was God as though he were not man;
Jesus was man as though he were not God.
Jacob rebuked Joseph – what Joseph though would please his father
brought a rebuke instead. There is a
parallel here. Jesus said “My meat is to
do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work” John 4 verse 34. Jesus did everything right. He said “I do always those things that please
him” John 8 verse 29, but there came a moment in time when Jesus got far more
than a rebuke from his Father. The bible
says that Jesus was “smitten of God” Isaiah 53 verse 4. He cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” Matthew 27 verse 46. He
“who knew no sin, hath made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him” 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21.
We are told that Jacob gave Joseph a robe
of many colours. God wants to give us a
robe of righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. On the cross he was smitten by God. Not just rebuked but smitten – put to
death. All our sins were charged to
Jesus. God punished Jesus instead of us
so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Joseph was God’s diamond in the rough. He needed a lot of polishing before his time
would come. But that is the way God sees
each of us – diamonds that no one around us recognises. It is what God sees that matters. When he sees us with that robe of
righteousness on, he vows to stay with us to the end – “And he shall bring
forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.” Psalm
37 verse 6
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