So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? And he recognized it and said “It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned his son many days.” (Gen 37:31-34).
I had never realized the implications of this passage until my pastor preached a sermon on the topic recently. I had never noticed Joseph's brothers never said anything about Joseph being hurt in any way. There merely asked a question of their father: “Is this Joseph's?” While the brothers caused their father much grief, it was Jacob himself who jumped to the wrong conclusion out of fear and uncertainty. Out of that fear, he assumed the worse. Had he responded logically, he might have asked where it was found and sent a search party for Joseph. The devil, in all his evil manipulations, put the first thought into Jacob's mind that Joseph was dead - the thing he feared most.
How often do we respond in like manner? We hear a hint of something wrong, and we jump to the worse possible conclusion. We forget we are Christians. We forget that all things work to the good of them that love the Lord. We even forget God is able to deliver us. Why? Emotions overtake us, and we respond, not logically or faithfully, but out of fear, manipulated by Satan's machinations. Satan robs us of our peace … if we let him.
No matter the storm that surrounds us, however, Satan does not get the victory. If Jacob had taken time to track Joseph, Israel would never have been saved from famine. God could not have gotten the glory for saving the nation of Israel from the grip of pharaoh, and Israel would never have entered Canaan. When we look back over our lives, reflecting how many troubles have been brought about by jumping to the wrong conclusion, we realize God brought us through to reflect His glory.
As Joseph told his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. (Gen 45:7-8).”
Even when we jump to the worse possible conclusion from a mere suggestion, God will have His way in our lives for His glory.
All we have to do is believe.