don't refuse to be comforted

Genesis 37

v35

And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

It really struck me this morning that he refused to be comforted. I thought of how we can get depressed about our situations sometimes, and refuse to be comforted like that. The deceiver tries to convince us that our situations are completely miserable and hopeless.

v33

And he knew it, and said, [It is] my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

Since all indicators pointed to the worst case scenario, Jacob presumed that it was without doubt. Even when everything seems to be hopeless, who knows what kind of great miracles the Lord is performing behind the scenes, and what kind of great blessings He has for His people in the future? If we don't see situations with our own eyes, and know for a fact what is the case, then we shouldn't be the slightest bit presumptuous even if all indicators strongly point to one conclusion.

v34

And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

We shouldn't wallow in self-pity forever, when something bad happens to us. v35 said that And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him... We should accept the means of comfort that the Lord provides for us, and not buy the enemy's lie that there is no hope.

Philippians 3:13b,14

...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.