Season 4 Genesis 37:21-24 (Joyelle Lee)
To watch the replay of this study please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fckit2njhdc
or
https://www.facebook.com/highland111/videos/1450556592393114
Joy’s Monday Notes:
GENESIS 37:21
“But when Reuben heard of their scheme,
he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said.
• Reuben is Jacobs first born
• Reuben slept with his fathers concubine (Rachel’s servant) in Gen 35:22 “and Israel (Jacob) heard of it.”
• Scholars say this was an act of challenging his fathers authority (by sleeping with his late wife, Rachels, concubine
(✝️How may this affected Joseph?? He knew his brother slept with his moms maid:(
✝️Bilhah raised Benjamin & Joseph :(
Gen37:22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” BUT Reuben was SECRETLY planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.”
• as the first born, he was to receive the double inheritance from his father.
• It’s likely he wanted to rescue Joseph— not out of the goodness of his heart- but to selfishly get back in high standing with his dad in order to “MAKE UP” for his past mistake & receive his inheritance!
• He’s possibly Trying to get back in good-standing with his father
👉👉His father (JACOB) never confronted Reuben after he slept with Rachel’s maid:( (see gen 35:22) “Jacob HEARD about it.”
🔥GENERATIONAL PEACE-KEEPING SIN!
👇👇
• Jacob had been a
Peace-keeper( & deceiver) his whole life— avoiding confrontation & LYING (his dad/Isaac & brother/Esau) instead of honestly confronting
👇
And now… his oldest son is, too.
PEACEMAKER:
Matt 5:9
“Blessed are the peaceMakers, for they will be called children of God.”
But… let’s FIRST examine what PeaceKEEPERS are:
PeaceKeepers
• avoid conflict
• Avoid confrontation
• Have Resentments towards others
• Stuffers & repressers
• Fear of entering into others sufferings
• Passive aggressive (instead of honest)
• driven by fear of people
• Rooted in UNBELIEF:(
(Explain)
Peace-KEEPERS end up having NO peace at all!
🔥Confrontation= to address the issue, not to attack the person!
We need to remove the issue, in order to restore the relationship!
⁃ Withholding truth NEVER leads to intimacy!
🔥“The highest form of INTIMACY is honesty.
Matt 18:15
“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.”
(CONFRONTATION= PEACEMAKER)
❤️❤️Dr. CAROLYN LEAF= “Before confronting someone, ask yourself, ‘IS this person mentally mature enough to grasp a different perspective?” If no, then walk away from the fight.’
👇
The key word is WALK - not stuff. Not deny. No repress.
Walk my hurting heart straight to the lap of Jesus! 👇
(he’s the ONLY one who has the power to touch a human heart)
BUT… WHEN we confront, we confront in GRACE, not GUILT.
(But if I’m not operating from grace— I won’t be able to see others through lens of grace!)
PeaceMAKERS:
1. choose confrontation over comfort; YOU’RE able to express your true feelings.
• If you don’t speak up, resentment builds up
• The goal isn’t to be right, the goal is to restore the relationship!
2. PEACE MAKERS Choose restoration over condemnation.
3. PEACE MAKERS bring-a-person-back not pay-a-person-back
James 5:19-20
“My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins”
4. PEACEMAKERS choose action over avoidance
⁃ Avoidance builds walls.
⁃ Avoidance hurts us emotionally mentally spiritually and physically!
⁃ Avoidance causes disconnect and eliminates intimacy
PeaceMakers KNOW they are a Promise-Carrier of the Promise-Keeper!
—————
GEN 37:23
“So when Joseph arrived, his brothers STRIPPED him of his robe, the robe of many colors he was wearing.
Keep in mind:
Everything happens in our life from either:
1. the initiation or
2. the permission of a GOOD God.
Isaiah 49:2
“I am a POLISHED ARROW hidden in His quiver!”
1 Sam 25:29
“I’m secure in His treasure pouch!”
• Polished arrow:
“So why an arrow?
Zech 3:2
“This man is like a burning stick that ‘s been snatched from a fire.”
WE ARE A BURNING STICK- I’ve been undeservingly snatched from the fire of hell!
Zech 3:4
“So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off (STRIP OFF) his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”
God has BEGUN His “polishing” process of Joseph (us)
👇
To fly him out into the world, polished by God, ready to pierce people’s hearts with God’s love.
• POLISHED:
To purify
To select
To choose
To purge
To cleanse
To make bright
To test
To prove
The 7 STEPS NEEDED TO MAKE A ‘POLISHED ARROW’
1. 🏹CHOOSING STICK= The archer chooses the stick.
• The greater find the lesser
• He chooses us, we do not choose Him.
• HE CHOSE YOU.
2. 🏹STRIPPING= The archer chisels with sharp knife or blade layer after layer of bark from it.
• stripping in our own life- is when it seems all is going wrong and nothing has remained!
• you are on your way to becoming a polished arrow in His quiver!
• Eph 4:22 “ strip off old self, and be renewed in my mind and put on new self.”
• PRUNING: John 15:2 “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that DO bear fruit so they will produce even more.
3. 🏹SANDING= The archer sands the stick to smooth out rough places
• Isaiah 40:4 “He smooths out the rough places.
• Isaiah 42:16 “I make the tough places, SMOOTH!”
4. 🏹FIRE= The archer places the stick over hot fire and BENDS it to STRAIGHTEN IT!
• Is 59:8 “ no one who walks along CROOKED paths will know peace
• Is 45:2 “ I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. I will cut the bars of iron and smashed on the gates of bronze.’
• Is 48:10 “I’ve refined you in the furnace of affliction
• JESUS is FOUND in the fire!!!
5. 🏹OIL= The master archer pours oil on the stick to polish it!
• IS 61:3 “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, an OIL of joy instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.”
• Psalm 133 “ how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live to gather in Union, for unity is like a precious oil poured on the head.”
• BULL- Oil secreted from pours to not allow enemy teeth from biting in
• OIL in bible= the Holy Spirit
6. FEATHERS= the final phase is to add feathers to the arrow for STABILITY and BALANCE, in order to not miss the mark!
• Sin= to “miss the mark.”
• without feathers, I am unstable and missing the mark.
• Psalm 91:4 = he will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you’ll find refuge!”
7. THE CRESTING= the marking of an arrow to identify who it belongs to.
• your manufacturer label says “Child of God.”
• Rev 22:4 “ his name will be written on my forehead.”
• We have an infatuation with wearing BRAND NAMES— a name greater/ more important than mine!
Facts about arrows:
1. An arrow can’t do anything on its own.
(John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.)
2. An arrow does not determine its own destination.
John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
3. An arrow does not determine the timing of his deployment.
Micah 7:7 “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
4. An arrow must WAIT for the archer to release it.
ISAIAH 40:31
“But those who WAIT upon the lord (expect, look for, hope in Him) will renew their strength! They will soar on wings like eagles! They will run and not grow weary, then walk, and not faint!
🔥“The arrow isn’t an aggressive tool of battle;
it’s a precise instrument of love.”
“Joseph was safe— in the hand of ‘The Master Archer.”
——————
37:24 Then they grabbed him and Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
🔥 The PIT didn’t destroy Joseph’s destiny — it was the catalyst that got him there.🔥
⁃ Jer 2:13 “For my people have done two evil things: (1) They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. (2) And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
Since the brothers “Dug their own pit” — it had holes in it, and couldn’t contain water. Just like the Jeremiah verse, look up! Discuss what that looks like to dig our own cisterns!!
⁃ mercy of God— no water in the cistern!
ANGER/RAGE:
• Rejection that sits in the human heart too long turns to rage
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⁃ Unresolved trauma (lies attached to the trauma)
⁃ unmet needs
⁃ unprocessed grief
⁃ fears
⁃ pain
⁃ deep seeded hurt/rejection
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FESTERS UNDER SURFACE
• “If you’re hysterical, it’s usually historical.”
A N G E R :
👇
• a secondary emotion.
• It MASKS the real raw primary emotion.
Anger provides a Neuro-chemical release from the brain that serves as a Self-Soothing & numbing agent.
👇
Anger is addictive!
• Anger protects me from having to “feel” the real RAW emotion to the situation.
🔥 It’s more satisfying to feel angry than to acknowledge pain associated with vulnerability.
🔥 Anger cannot make pain disappear -
👇
1. It only distracts you from it
2. & THEN places that pain onto others.
John 14:27
“peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives to you. Do not let your hearts be TROUBLED “
Troubled=
“An inward commotion.”
“To strike ones spirit with fear & dread.”
”to perplex the mind with fear & doubts.”
Bitterness is a cancer to the soul.
👇
HEB 12:15 — a bitter root troubles me but defiles many
Often we’re too busy cursing them to recognize how God is using them
REMEDY TO ANGER:
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SABBATH: the “remedy to your anger
(“An unexamined life isn’t worth living.”)
Let God:
“uproot the weeds & implant new seeds.”