Insecurity: The Lies and the Truth of It.عينة

In Genesis 37, we see the closeness between Jacob and his son, Joseph. The story shows the depth of this closeness and the jealousy that it spurred in Joseph’s brothers. I mean, if you have siblings, you can probably relate to what that might feel like. They watched as their father favored their brother, and it enraged them. The jealousy was so strong that they plotted to kill him! One of the brothers spoke up and instead suggested selling him as a slave and off to Egypt he went.

When Jacob asked about his son, he heard his sons' lies and thought Joseph was dead. 

He believed them because of the evidence of Joseph's bloody coat but maybe also because the news came from his children— from people who were close to him, who he trusted, and who he loved. Many years later he learned the truth and was able to be reunited with Joseph but how sad that believing a lie caused him many years of sorrow!

You see, sometimes we believe a lie because it comes from someone very close who we love or who we trust. And most times we can justify the lie into becoming truth, right?

Instead of questioning its validity, or going to God and asking for confirmation, we just accept it, and the lie becomes our identity.

Have you been told something by someone who you love that wasn’t the truth about you? Maybe that you weren’t smart enough, pretty enough, or talented enough?

I can remember words said to me in middle school about my body shape that I took as truth for years. Those words shaped my self-image. My view of my body was focused on the external view and a self-contaminated view of what the world said was beautiful.  I didn’t know what God said about my body, about my image, about myself as his creation. It wasn’t until I knew his love for me and his truth, that my self-esteem started to change.

If you’ve had hurtful things said to you by loved ones that have changed the way you see yourself, read God's encouragement today and recite it as your new truth: You are God’s Masterpiece.