Genesis 37:14-20: a reflection

14He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.” 17The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. 20Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”

Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers, and Joseph, obedient, goes looking for them. He does not find them at first; he is wandering in a field when a certain man happens upon him and asks what he is looking for. Joseph says he seeks his brothers, and the man tells him they have gone on to Dothan. On that small, chance-seeming direction from a stranger, Joseph goes to Dothan, where his brothers conspire against him. A casual word from an unnamed passerby steered the whole course of events.

Notice how a small, chance encounter steered the course of a great history. Had the stranger not found Joseph wandering, or not overheard where the brothers had gone, Joseph might have turned back, and the whole story, his being sold into Egypt, his rise there, his saving of many from famine, might have gone differently. But a passerby's casual direction sent Joseph to Dothan, and so set in motion all that followed. What looked like a chance encounter was, in God's hand, a hinge of history; God was steering events through the smallest details.

That is worth pondering, for God works his purposes through small, chance-seeming details we would never notice. A casual encounter, an overheard word, a small turn of events, can be, in God's hand, the hinge on which much turns. Joseph's whole future, and the saving of many, hung on a stranger's chance direction; and God was steering it. Do not assume that the small, chance-seeming details of your life are insignificant; God may be working his purposes through them, as he steered Joseph through a passerby's casual word. The God who guided Joseph to Dothan through a chance encounter is at work in the small details of your life too, steering events you would never guess. Trust that God is at work even in the chance encounters and small turns of your life, steering them toward his purposes, as he steered the whole course of Joseph's history through a stranger's casual direction in a field.

Lord, Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers, and Joseph, obedient, went looking for them. He did not find them at first; he was wandering in a field when a certain man happened upon him and asked what he was looking for. Joseph said he sought his brothers, and the man told him they had gone on to Dothan. On that small, chance-seeming direction from a stranger, Joseph went to Dothan, where his brothers conspired against him. A casual word from an unnamed passerby steered the whole course of events. Show me how a small, chance encounter steered the course of a great history. Had the stranger not found Joseph, or not overheard where the brothers had gone, the whole story might have gone differently. But a passerby's casual direction sent Joseph to Dothan, and so set in motion all that followed. What looked like a chance encounter was, in your hand, a hinge of history; you were steering events through the smallest details. Let me ponder that, for you work your purposes through small, chance-seeming details I would never notice. A casual encounter, an overheard word, a small turn of events, can be, in your hand, the hinge on which much turns. Keep me from assuming that the small, chance-seeming details of my life are insignificant; you may be working your purposes through them. Help me trust that you are at work even in the chance encounters and small turns of my life, Lord, steering them toward your purposes, as you steered the whole course of Joseph's history through a stranger's casual direction in a field.