Suffering from self assurance

In our youth, and maybe not only then, we are often prone to being overly self assured about what life will bring for us. Our plans are laid out and this is the way our lives will travel, dreams of riches, dreams of comfort and rest. We are almost prideful in our self assuredness and painfully so sometimes. This is perhaps what we can perceive in Joseph in his interactions with his brothers the end of which we see in the passage today (Gen. 37:12-28). All of which is true but if we are not careful we will miss the same attitude in his father at the start of the passage (Gen. 37:1) and perhaps there is even a smidgen in Peter as he walks on the water (Matt. 14:29). Whether we are as bad as Joseph or it is in the background lurking, perhaps like Peter, we need to remind ourselves that such an attitude eventually leads to some form of calamity either for ourselves or for the community.

At some point in our lives we have been self assured about something, this is not a bad thing. Occasionally, if we think back, I am fairly certain there will be times that we can say we were a little more than self assured and bordered on reckless. Joseph was not so much reckless in his self assuredness but rather naive. His approach to his brothers was overly based on his ability of interpreting the dreams he had and those of others. I can well imagine how peeved (that's a nice way of putting it) is brothers really were feeling after all his wilful pride-fullness. So it is not really surprising that they decided to deal with it by putting him in his place. The problem to this whole story is, according to the midrash, that it is his father who has become self assured with regards to the promises made to him and his fore bearers regarding the covenant and the land. The first verse in this chapter indicates that Jacob believes that the covenant is fulfilled with all the pain and suffering that he and his fore bearers had gone through. In not allowing the working of God's promises and seeking to live his late years in peace, whilst a dream worth having for anyone, is not the reason to finish pursuing God's call.

We can all walk on water if we are not filled with our own hubris

In our own way, as a part of God's people, we are just as guilty of this type of being self assured in the presence of God. In our longing for God's presence and will we often come to the erroneous conclusion, just like Jacob, that we have done our part. The result is that we can retire and live of the laurels of our work for God. In falling into this trap we fail to live up to God's promises and our own closeness to God. I am certain that in our well meaning understanding of what has gone before we like Jacob miss God's constant call upon our lives. I can think of at least one parish were I was constantly reminded of the  fact that the Sunday school was such a wonderful thing and why don't we do that again. Yet, if we think closely about it if it was so wonderful where are the people who attended, why are they not part of the church community any more or is it because we did not actually achieve what God set us to achieve and we sat back on in our self assured pride thinking only in terms of our success and not what God required of us? Peter's lesson came quickly, Jacob took a life time to learn it. Peter's realisation of his dependence on God was life or death. Unfortunately we are not in that position but rather in Jacob's. Only when we are humble and allow God to lead us into newness of life will we be sure that we come to the rest that is promised.

Often our difficulty is our own self perception of who and what we are. It is not  that we do not trust and have faith but rather that we believe more in our own abilities rather than those that come from God. Like Jacob we allow our own thoughts and our own minds to create the future that we want with little regard to God's call upon our lives. It is then in our own hubris we find that we have got ii wrong and that God is still demanding our presence to minister to God's people irrespective of age, gender and nationality. Only when we fully accept God's call are we able to step out in faith and walk upon the waters in God's presence.