Joseph’s life was not however always quite so rosy. He was
not popular with his brothers, who thought him spoilt and condescending and knew
that their father loved him more than them. He had dreams that seemed to
suggest that he was going to rise to a position of prominence and his whole
family would need to bow down to him and he told tales on his brothers. It got
so bad that he and his brothers could not speak on friendly terms and actively
hated each other.
One day when Joseph’s brothers were away working with the sheep,
Joseph stayed behind. Jacob decided to send Joseph to his brothers to see how
they were doing and report back, so off he went. But when he got to the place
they should have been they weren’t there. As he wandered around Joseph
encountered a stranger and so he asked him where he might find his brothers,
the stranger replied that he thought they had gone off to a place called
Dothan, so Joseph went and found them there. From that point on Joseph’s life
was changed completely.
The identity of the stranger is not revealed. The Bible
doesn’t say where he came from, where he went, what his name was or what he was
doing in the fields. All we are told is that he found Joseph and had a short
conversation that changed the direction of Joseph’s life. As I reflect on this
story I also reflect on those one off conversations which have changed the
direction of my life. Sometimes I know the identity of those people, some of
them have faded from memory, but there are a number who have said something
that has caused me to pause, or reflect or to change.
As a pastor and an educator it is my hope that I will have
some of those conversations. Where something I say, even if unknowingly, has
changed the course of someone’s life for the better. Joseph endured a lot of
pain after his encounter with the stranger and it is likely that he didn’t see
the change of direction as immediately beneficial. But it was necessary, not
only for his sake for many others, even whole nations. It is possible that
those words I sow into the lives of others will not always produce immediate
benefit, in fact if acted upon they may even produce pain. But with God’s grace
they may produce the right result.
It may also be that you are the one whose words of
challenge, encouragement or even direction will alter the course of someone’s
life. Seek out those opportunities, use your words wisely – who knows your
unwitting counsel may one day change the course of history and the fate of
nations!
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