Sep 29, 2026
Daily Dose of Hope
September 29, 2026
Scripture: Genesis 37
Prayer: Almighty Father, Thank you for loving us despite our many faults. Thank you for showing us a different way of doing life. Help us seek holiness in all we do. Help us become the people you desire us to be. As we work through today’s Scripture and devotional, I pray that you speak to our hearts. Help us see things differently. We want to hear from you. In Your Name, Amen.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan. We are currently doing a deep dive into the book of Genesis. Today’s reading is Genesis 37 and begins the tenth and final major section of the book. The rest of the book will focus primarily on Joseph. We will see that Jacob favoring Joseph will set the story in motion. While God can use anything for his good (and he does in this case), favoritism never turns out well when it comes to children.
In today’s reading, Joseph is a very arrogant and naïve 17-year-old and the favorite of his father’s many children. Jacob does not keep his favoritism secret, either. He makes this beautiful coat for Joseph, which Joseph wears in front of his other brothers. This is really a recipe for disaster. To make matters worse, Joseph has dreams where the brothers bow down to him and Joseph decides it’s a good idea to share these dreams with his brothers! Some things are better kept to ourselves. No wonder the brothers hate him. It appears Joseph thinks a lot of himself and he doesn’t mind sharing how great he is with the others. Of course, Jacob has fed that to Joseph for years. We can just sense that this is not going to end well. Between Jacob’s favoritism and Joseph’s arrogance, something is going to snap among the other brothers.
And we don’t have to wait for long for that to happen. Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers who are grazing the animals out in the fields. They see him when he is still far off and several of them want to kill him. Reuben the oldest wants to save Joseph’s life, understanding the pain this will cause his father. Eventually, Joseph is sold to a band of Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. This will open us a totally new dynamic to the story.
But the saddest part is that they lie to Jacob and tell him Joseph was devoured by a wild animal. They bring the beautiful coat with some goat blood to him as evidence. And Jacob is, understandably, consumed by grief.
A few thoughts here. First, favoritism or partiality destroys families. Maybe you have seen this or experienced this yourself. It is always destructive. Second, sin has a way of escalating quickly. Jealousy moves quickly to hatred which can move to murder and then lies and deception. So very heartbreaking. Finally, we have to trust that God is going to work through all this mess. God is going to take this brokenness and suffering and work through it and despite of it. We’ll get to read more about that in the next few days.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki