Do I jump to conclusions when something happens in my life?

July 19, 2013: Do I jump to conclusions when something happens in my life? Please “Share” this link to a new Precious Prodigal Blog Post: http://wp.me/p1D8dQ-bG

Gen 37:33 “And [Jacob] knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces."

Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist? You know…the old glass thing. Is it half full or half empty? And what about being impulsive? You and I don’t have the luxury of being impulsive. So although I’m not surprised when my prodigal acts impulsively, it’s hard to see myself that way. I mean, someone in the prodigal’s family needs to “have their head screwed on straight,” right? And those “someones” are usually us. We are the ones who see things clearly, and we certainly don’t impulsively jump to or act on conclusions without all the facts. Or do we?

If you have sisters and brothers, you already know that Moms and/or Dads sometimes have a favorite, or at least they seem to. And cries of, “Mom always loved you best!” may be cute in a sitcom, but they aren’t very amusing in real life. That was the situation with Jacob and his sons in Genesis 37. Jacob “loved Joseph more than all his children,” and he made Joseph a coat of many colors. (Gen 37:3) The envy of Joseph’s brothers turned into a simmering resentment until it was fully developed hatred.

It was that hatred that caused them to sell Joseph into slavery. Of course, Joseph’s not coming home was going to pretty difficult to explain to Dad and was going to cause some uncomfortable questions. Their solution was to kill a baby goat and dip Joseph’s coat in the blood. Then they took it to their father and asked whether this was “his son’s” coat. I could say a lot about that statement alone and the resentment that is so obvious in it, but I’m more interested in Jacob’s response.

Jacob recognized the coat, of course. And he was so overcome with fear and grief, he immediately jumped to a conclusion…make that a wrong conclusion. Matter of fact, he actually jumped to several wrong conclusions. The first is that Joseph had been devoured by an “evil beast” and was dead. He was sure of it “without doubt.” But he was wrong. Completely wrong. In one giant step, Jacob had gone from sending Joseph on an errand to assuming he was dead and lost to him forever.

Are we really so different? We look at the things that are destroying our prodigal’s life and the things the prodigal is doing to help that process along. Then we jump to the conclusion that the bloody coat and our conclusion about it are the only reality. And we are just as wrong as Jacob. Like us, he only had a few of the facts, he was overcome with fear, and he was without hope.

Jacob knew about the power of God, but he was used to manipulating the circumstances to “help” God along. When he couldn’t manipulate this, when it was totally out of his control, he assumed all was lost. He was wrong. His story wasn’t finished, Joseph’s story wasn’t finished, and our stories aren’t finished either.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, refuse to assume all is lost? Can you hold on instead of jumping to the conclusion that there is no hope?