Out of the Mire - Trusting God in the Middle of TrialsSample

Arrogance often leads to trouble

I used to be a machine operator at a factory. One day, my boss gave me a compliment about my work ethic. I went home, bragging to my husband about how great I was at my job.

The next day, I was operating my press, daydreaming, when *BAM! The press slammed down on something it wasn’t supposed to. The alarm went off, my press had to be shut off, the maintenance man had to be called over, and I got written up... it was a humbling and embarrassing experience. Let’s just say that I didn’t feel very arrogant anymore.

It’s a laughing matter now, but in all honesty, arrogance is serious. It is a sin.

Although Joseph is considered a great hero of the Bible, he was human and sinned just like the rest of us. Joseph likely struggled with the sin of arrogance.

In today’s passage from Genesis, we see that Joseph had a God-given gift of being able to interpret dreams. He liked flaunting this gift to his family, despite his brothers’ irritation. They didn’t take too kindly to Joseph’s gloating. This didn’t stop Joseph! When Joseph had another dream about ruling over his own family, he not only bragged about it to his brothers but even to his father!

The brothers were fed up. They were tired of Joseph, his dreams, and their father’s favoritism towards Joseph. Of course, Joseph’s brothers never should have harbored hatred toward Joseph. They were in the wrong about that. However, is there a chance that Joseph’s arrogance could have been part of the problem?

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Notice that humility is required first before God lifts you up. In other words, if we want God to show us favor, we need to lose pride and arrogance and choose a humble heart first.

Though Joseph was a bright young man with a God-given gift of interpreting dreams, he needed to learn humility before God would allow those incredible dreams come to fruition.