Jr. Tree of Life
Unfairness and the Faith-Rest-Drill – Part 1
03/29/2020
“Joseph thrown into pit” Genesis 37:1-25
Promises from God
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” II Thessalonians 1:6
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
Have you ever played basketball or another sport? Was there ever a time when you went to practice every day, but only got to play for two minutes in the game? God has a special way that He wants you handle this problem. Should you tell your friends how unfair the coach is? Do you throw the ball hard against the wall after the game? No, God wants us to handle unfairness in His way. He wants us to rebound when we sin, using the faith-rest-drill on all the unfair things that happen.
Families, teachers, coaches, and others can all treat us unfairly sometimes. God’s way tells us that we must respect the authority of our coaches, parents or teachers whether they are fair or unfair. He wants to help you because He is always fair (Just.) He is always right beside you (Omnipresent) all day long.
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” II Thessalonians 1:6
Our Bible story today happened a long time ago in the Age of the Gentiles. Today, we live in the Church Age. Jacob was a man who loved God; he was a sheep herder with twelve sons and one daughter. Joseph loved God too and was Jacob’s favorite son.
Jacob gave Joseph a special long coat that had long sleeves. The coat meant that Joseph would be the boss over his brothers even though he was younger than ten of them. His older brothers were very mad at him when that happened. They didn’t understand why Rueben, the oldest brother didn’t get this job.
God sent Joseph two dreams. In one dream he saw tied up clumps of grain that were bowing down to him. In the second dream, Joseph saw eleven stars, plus the sun and the moon bowing down to him. Joseph was so excited about the dreams and made the mistake of telling them to his jealous brothers.
After hearing Joseph’s dreams, his older brothers kept on getting madder and madder at him. Both dreams meant that Joseph would be their boss. It didn’t seem fair to them. All the older brothers grew to hate their younger brother Joseph more and more each day.
One day Jacob sent Joseph out to check on his brothers who were out in the pastures with the sheep. Joseph looked for them but couldn’t find them at first. Eventually, someone told him where they were, and he headed towards them. Joseph’s brothers saw him coming. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer!” Genesis 37:19
Reuben, the oldest brother overheard his angry brothers; they were so mad that they wanted to kill Joseph! Reuben didn’t want them to kill Joseph so he told his brothers to throw him into a deep dark pit instead so that later he could get him out and take him back to their father.
When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the special coat he was wearing, and threw him into the pit; it was a good thing it didn’t have water in it. They sat down and ate lunch, not caring at all about Joseph. He wasn’t alone because God was with him. God saw how unfairly he was being treated. Anytime we are treated unfair, God is always our go to person.
God allowed Joseph to have the dreams and be thrown into the pit because He would have a way of working out every unfair thing that Joseph went through. God has a very special plan for Joseph’s life called a mission. He has a plan for each one of us too even when we have something unfair happen to us.
God doesn’t cause unfair things to happen to us. He wants us to go to Him when unfair things happen. We do this when we rebound and recover. Below is the faith-rest-drill.
Faith-Rest-Drill
- Remember a promise from God: In today’s lesson, the promise is:
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” II Thessalonians 1:6
2. Think of a reason to trust God with your problem:
Today’s lesson, God is always fair: Joseph was thrown into the hole which was unfair. God was right beside him. God is right beside you when something unfair happens. God’s way is to respect your parents, coaches and teacher even if they are unfair, because He will help you, if you do things His way.
3. Relax. Relax, God is will handle unfairness. Don’t let it wreck your day if you are on a team, but don’t get to play. Go do something that you love while God takes care of it. Make a puzzle, text your friends, play your clarinet and have fun.