Genesis chapter 37

2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph was his father's favourite and his brothers knew it. Joseph also reported everything they did to their father, and because he told Jacob all the bad things they did, they held a grudge against Joseph. The thing is, though, that if they had not been doing anything bad, then Joseph would only have had good things to report. They obviously perceived Joseph as a tell tale, a goodie two shoes doing everything their father asked and were jealous of his favourite son status.

It is difficult if you love one child more than another to remain impartial, but it is essential to try and do this so as to be fair to each child. I always try to make sure that we treat all our children the same, and I know they watch to make sure one is not getting a better, more expensive birthday present than another, for instance. They keep track of things like this as I know from a discussion they had yesterday….

Joseph here seems to have taken great pride in telling his brothers all about his dreams, a complete difference from later on in Genesis when he gives God the glory. He has the gift of being able to interpret dreams from God, but here, he uses it to score against his brothers, to make himself look good. It is not until he has suffered imprisonment, false accusation and all sorts that he finally learns to trust n God, to give Him the glory. It took suffering for God to be able to use Joseph and it all started with Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery. God then turned this wicked act into something that saved an entire nation.

Sometimes, when we are going through trials, when there is illness, death, financial problems, marital problems, job difficulties, trouble at school/college, it seems like God is far away, that He doesn't care and is leaving us to fend for ourselves. I am sure there were times when Joseph thought about that as he was taken away into slavery and captivity. I know the things that I have been through have made me a more sympathetic person, kinder, more accepting, although I often wanted the things I was going through to magically disappear. God used the troubles we go through to refine us, to make us more like Christ and to turn us into the people he has always designed us to be.