Joseph knew about dysfunctional families. It had already started with his great-grandparents, Abraham and Sarah. When Sarah realized that she was barren, she had convinced Abraham to go to her servant Hagar. As soon as Hagar was pregnant, the rivalry began. Growing up in this atmosphere, Ishmael and Isaac took the tension into their own families. Isaac made a point of favoring Esau, and Jacob spent his life trying to earn his father’s love and respect. Later on, Jacob was tricked into marrying two sisters who did not get along and competed with each other through a childbearing race, even enlisting their maids to bear Jacob’s children.

Review the incident detailed in Genesis 34:1-31. What kind of emotional and relational impact would all this incident have had on the family as a whole and on young Joseph, as well?

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The rivalry between the mothers obviously spilled over to the children, who grew up ready to pick a fight. As young adults, Joseph’s older brothers already had massacred all the males in the town of Shechem. The oldest brother Reuben displayed dominance and defiance to his aging father by sleeping with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid and the mother of several of Jacob’s children (Genesis 35:22). Meanwhile, Joseph’s brother Judah mistook his widowed daughter-in-law for a prostitute and ended up having twins with her (Genesis 38).

Jacob added fuel to the fire of all this family tension by his obvious favoritism toward Joseph in giving him an expensive colorful coat (Genesis 37:3). If ever there was a dysfunctional family, the patriarch’s family could have competed with it.

Why do you think that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are all listed as faith heroes in Hebrews 11:17-22 when you consider their messy family relationships?

God’s faith champions often fall short of their own and God’s expectations. These men are listed in Hebrews 11 not because of their messy family relationships but in spite of them. They learned — often the hard way — about faith, love, and trust in God as they wrestled with these family issues.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 34:1-31; Hebrews 11:17-22; Deuteronomy 4:29;  1 John 3.1-2; Genesis 39:1-23; Ephesians 6:1-13.

Memory Text: “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” ( 2 Peter 3.17-18, NKJV).

The young man carefully scanned the horizon. Then, finally, he saw them. He had been looking for his brothers for days. As he approached, waving and calling to the grim-faced group, he got anything but a warm welcome. His own brothers actually wanted to kill him. If it hadn’t been for Reuben, there may have been no story to tell. Reuben convinced the rest just to rough him up a bit and throw him into a dry well. Later, Judah came up with the grand scheme to get rid of him and make a bit of money, too, by selling him to some passing slave traders.

What an example of family dysfunction!

We get to choose many things in life, but not our family. No one is perfect, and none of us have perfect families and perfect family relationships. Some of us are blessed by parents, siblings, and other family members that reflect God’s love, but many have to settle for less than the ideal. Family relationships are often complicated and painful, leaving us restless, hurt, and carrying loads of emotional baggage that we, in turn, off-load on others.

How can we find God’s rest in this area of our lives? This week we turn to the story of Joseph and his family ties in order to watch God at work bringing healing and emotional rest despite dysfunctional family relationships.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 7.

Sunday–>

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Praying Without Ceasing

By Andrew McChesney

Ning Cing’s two daughters wanted to go to a Seventh-day Adventist school when they arrived in the United States as refugees from Myanmar.

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Eight-year-old Lun made it a matter of prayer during morning and evening family worship. “Please, God, help us,” she prayed. “We want to go to an Adventist school. If You want, You can help us.”

Nuam was only four and not ready for school, but that didn’t deter her. “Please, God, help us,” she prayed.

Their single mother, Ning, wished she had a choice other than public school in their new hometown in the state of Georgia. But she didn’t have money to send Lun to the Adventist school. She had other problems as well. She couldn’t speak English. She didn’t know how to drive. She had no job.

Then the headaches started. The pain spread to her left arm and left side. She lost sight in her left eye.

Ning wept. How would she care for her daughters, much less send them to Adventist school? As she cried, she read the Bible and prayed. “God, please answer my prayer,” she said. “Give me a miracle.”

Slowly the pain disappeared, and her sight returned. A warehouse offered her work, and an Adventist pastor drove her to the job interview. When she was hired, coworkers picked her up at the house and took her back. Then she learned how to drive. Her salary, however, was small.

The first school year ended, and Nuam was old enough to start first grade in the fall. Both daughters kept praying. When the new school year started, both girls entered public school. Still they kept praying.

“God, please help us,” Lun prayed. “Send kind, rich people to pay the school fees. We want to learn the Bible in school. We want to know You.”

Three weeks into the school year, an Adventist friend called. Funds from a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering would help cover the girls’ tuition at the Adventist school. “Your girls can start next week,” the friend said.

Lun was ecstatic. “Thank You, God!” she exclaimed. “You are able to do everything. You heard our prayers. We love You, God. We praise You.”

Nuam began to cry. “Oh really?” she said. “God really answered our prayers?”

The sisters woke up early, at 5:30 a.m., for their first day of school. They eagerly watched and waited at the window for the school bus to arrive.

“God is very great to my family and me,” Ning said. “He cares for us and loves us so much.”

Thank you for your 2011 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that helped Ning’s daughters go to an Adventist school. This quarter’s offering will again help refugee children get an Adventist education in the North American Division. Thank you for planning a generous offering.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

“When you find your work hard, when you complain of difficulties and trials, when you say that you have no strength to withstand temptation, that you cannot overcome impatience, and that the Christian life is uphill work, be sure that you are not bearing the yoke of Christ; you are bearing the yoke of another master.” — Ellen G.

Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

White, Child Guidance, p. 267.

“There is need of constant watchfulness and of earnest, loving devotion, but these will come naturally when the soul is kept by the power of God through faith. We can do nothing, absolutely nothing, to commend ourselves to divine favor. We must not trust at all to ourselves or to our good works; but when as erring, sinful beings we come to Christ, we may find rest in His love. God will accept every one that comes to Him trusting wholly in the merits of a crucified Saviour. Love springs up in the heart. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there is an abiding, peaceful trust. Every burden is light; for the yoke which Christ imposes is easy. Duty becomes a delight, and sacrifice a pleasure. The path that before seemed shrouded in darkness becomes bright with beams from the Sun of Righteousness. This is walking in the light as Christ is in the light.” — Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, pages 38, 39.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mruSguQUYq8&w=560&h=315]

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