12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”

 “Very well,” he replied.

 14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

 When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

 16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

 17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

 So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

Dear God, it is interesting that it is Reuben who tries to take care of Joseph here. Earlier, Genesis goes out of its way to mention that Reuben slept with one of his father’s concubines (or whatever the woman’s designation was). Now, it says that Reuben wanted to save Joseph from his brothers. Are the two linked? Was the author intimating that Reuben felt guilt over what he had done and wanted to save Joseph? Or did Reuben simply not have the stomach to do this to Joseph?

It can be hard to stand up to a group of others when you are the lone voice. I have had opportunities in my life to be, what I considered to be, the voice of reason. Sometimes I took advantage of it and said what I had to say, and sometimes I let the opportunity go by and went with the flow. I suppose we all make each choice at one time or another. The question is, do we learn from our mistakes and make the right decision more and more often?

Father, help me to be willing to stand up and defend you and holy values at any given time, regardless of what the personal cost might be to me. Help me to speak with eloquence as people come to me and challenge what I feel from you is right. Give me the courage to lead my family. Give me the courage to lead this organization where I work. I want to bring glory to you so that you might touch others and draw them into complete relationship to you.