TODAYS WORD FOR TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5,
2013.
RETALIATE
DEFINITION:
To return evil for evil or a wrong for a
wrong; to inflict pain or harm to gain satisfaction.
SCRIPTURE:
"So when Joseph came to his
brothers, they stripped him of his robe - the richly ornamented robe he was
wearing - and they took him and threw him into the cistern. As they sat down to
eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from
Gilead - Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother
and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell
him to the Ishmaelites." Genesis 37:23
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
In Genesis 37 we read about the family
of Joseph and we learn that there is no love lost between Joseph and his ten
older brothers. Joseph had become a real
"thorn in the flesh to them". They resented the fact that he was the
favorite son of their father Jacob.
After Joseph told them about his two dreams in which they bowed down to
him they hated him all the more for his seemingly arrogant attitude. They were jealous and coveted Joseph's
favored position. They no doubt had been wanting to retaliate for a long
time. It was probably a good thing that
they were away most of the time tending their father's flocks.
One day Jacob decided to send Joseph to
check on his brothers. From a far
distance they saw Joseph coming and wearing his beautiful coat, the hated
symbol of their father's favoritism for Joseph.
They began to plot to kill Joseph and throw him into an empty
cistern. When Joseph reaches them they
strip him of his robe and throw him into a cistern. While Joseph is no doubt pleading from the
pit for their mercy the hard-hearted brothers sit down to eat their meal. When they see a caravan of Ishmaelites going
by they change their plan and decide to sell him rather than kill him. Not only will they be rid of Joseph they will
get some money for themselves.
The brothers thought only of the
satisfaction that their retaliation against Joseph would bring them. Evil deeds always require a cover-up so the
brothers dipped Joseph's robe in the blood of a goat and took it home to their
father causing their father to think a wild animal killed Joseph. Their father
was deeply grieved. They had not given
any consideration to how their act of retaliation would affect their
father. Now they had to live with their
guilt for the great sorrow they had caused their father.
There is never any real satisfaction in
retaliation. It usually results in an
endless cycle of trying to get even. The
only means of stopping it is forgiveness.
People excuse their desire to retaliate by telling themselves that the
person they are retaliating against has it coming.
God, however, has a whole different
perspective on retaliation. In Matthew
5:38-39 Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do
not resist an evil person. If someone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."
Jesus taught that we are not to try to
even the score and return evil for evil.
We are to forgive and do what is good.
This is a hard lesson for us to learn and put into practice. It is a lesson we must also teach our
children. Countless times when we had to
intervene in a fight between our young children we would hear these words. "He or she hit me first," and the
reply would be, "but you started it."
Children always think they have to get even. To teach our children that retaliation was
wrong we gave equal punishment for the retaliator as well as the instigator of
the fight. It gave them cause to think about the consequences before they
retaliated.
LEARNING:
Our memory verse for this week is found
in Psalms 100:4.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
PRAYER:
Father, take away my desire to retaliate
against those who do evil against me and make me willing to be forgiving. Help me to teach my children that no matter
who started the fight that it is wrong to retaliate. Help them to desire to show love to their
siblings and to care about one another.
