Topic: HANDLING HURTS AND OFFENCES (PART ONE) [Church of God Mission International] CGMi ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL 13 June 2021
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CGMi ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL
DATE SUNDAY, 13TH JUNE, 2021.
TOPIC HANDLING HURTS AND OFFENCES (PART ONE)
TEXT GENESIS 37:1-36
HYMN S. S. & S. 201 “Spirit Divine, attend to our prayers…”
CENTRAL THOUGHT The Holy spirit helps believer to handle hurt and offences
INTRODUCTION
Joseph was a beloved son of his father, Jacob who made a coat of many colours for him because he was a son of his old age. His brothers envied him because of the dreams God gave him about his future.
This led to his brothers planning to get rid of
him. Despite all that was done against Joseph: the multiple hurts and offences he suffered in the hands of his brothers in his father’s house and the ones he suffered in the hands of Potiphar’s wife in Egypt. He did not repay any of them evil for evil. Rather he followed the Biblical
injunction that says “recompense no man evil
for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom. 12:17). In this study, we
shall be looking at how. we can successfully
handle hurts and offenses we encounter in
our relationships with others. We shall adopt
the life of Joseph as a model.
LESSON OBJECTIVE
- To explain with relevant examples what “hurts” and “offences” mean and what the common causes of hurts and offences are:
2 identity the issues that must have hurt or offended Joseph, and
- state how Joseph reacted when he saw his brothers and how his knowledge of God helped him in handling the hurts and offences. To state lessons we can learn from it. BIBLE TRUTH:
Q1a. EXPLAIN WITH RELEVANT EXAMPLES WHAT “HURTS” AND OFFENCES” MEAN
Hurt can be explained as causing bodily injury to someone, to injure, to cause bodily pain. It can also mean to feel or suffer bodily or mental pain or distress. Common examples of hurt include bodily injuries sustained as a result of a fall, knife cuts or loss of a tooth.
These are examples of hurts which are physical in nature.
Another form of hurt may not necessarily be physical but emotional, or psychological.
This form of hurt could manifest in the form of causing someone to have a feeling of distress by our behaviours, utterances or even our actions towards them. Wrong accusations, back biting and bearing false
witness against others can also be hurtful.
Great Illustrated Dictionary defines Offence as
the act of offending or causing anger, resentment or displeasure. It can also mean attacking or assaulting.
Q1b. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON CAUSES OF/HURTS AND OFFENCES? (Gen. 37:1-36)
There are many causes of hurts and offences. Some of the common causes include the following:
°Hatred: Hatred has to do with having intense dislike for something or someone. It can
also manifest in the form of hostile actions motivated by intense dislike or prejudice
against someone. Joseph was loved by his father more than all his other children, because he was the son of his old age.
Jacob made a coat of many colours for Joseph. This made Joseph’s brothers to hate him. Also, when Joseph dreamed a dream and narrated it to his brothers, they hated him the more. As believers, we should not hate but love one another.
°Envy: This is a feeling of discontent or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possession or qualities. Sometimes people do not appreciate what qualities or
possessions they have and always want to be like the other person. When they perceive that the person in question has an edge over
them, they envy him. Joseph’s brothers envied him because of the dreams he had. Even his
father rebuked him on hearing of the dream. We should not envy others. Whatever God
has purposed for someone, He will surely accomplish it for that person. Rather than being envious of others, we should
appreciate the grace of God upon their lives while trusting God to accomplish His
purpose in our own lives.
°Conspiracy: This has to do with a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or
harmful to other people or persons. It can also refer to an action of plotting against
someone. When Joseph’s brothers saw him afar off, they plotted to kill him. They thought that by killing Joseph they would kill his God given dreams. God will certainly preserve His children who live upright, such that no weapon formed against them will
prosper.
°Murder: In a bid to get rid of Joseph and his dreams, his brothers planned to kill him and then go home to tell their father that an animal killed him. They wanted to give a reason that would exonerate them from their brother’s death. Fortunately, Reuben, Jacob’s first son spoke out gainst the evil plot. This was the reason Joseph’s life was
spared at that point in time.
°Falsehood: It is generally said that one evil leads to another evil if not checked. In all the
wicked actions of Josephs brothers against him, they carried home a false report in order to cover up their evil deeds. We must be careful to shun all forms of hurts and offences towards others. We must remember this “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7).
Q2. WHAT WERE THE ISSUES THAT MUST HAVE HURT OR OFFENDED JOSEPH?
(Gen. 37:21-28; 39:10-20)
The issues that must have hurt or offended Joseph are from two scenarios, namely in his own brothers and in Potiphar’s house in Egypt. Joseph must have felt hurt when he heard his brothers’ plans to get rid of him. When Joseph got to where his brothers were, they stripped him of his coat, the coat of many colours that was on him. After this, Joseph’s brothers took him and cast him into a pit, an empty pit in which there was no water. Joseph was later lifted out of the pit, sold to the Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver and he was subsequently brought to Egypt as a slave. A favourite son of his father found himself as a commodity of merchandise in a foreign land. This must have been a painful experience for Joseph.
On arrival in Egypt, Joseph was sold as slave to Potiphar, the captain of the king’s guard. He was a dutiful slave into whose hands his master committed all he had to manage. Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to lie with her.
Joseph refused because he did not want to sin against God. One day as he was carrying
out his duty in his master’s house, the woman caught Joseph by his garment asking
him to lie with her. Joseph left his garment in the hands of Potiphar’s wife in a bid to
escape and fled. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph to her husband, that Joseph
wanted to forcefully lie with her and when she shouted for people to come, Joseph fled
leaving his garment with her. When the matter was reported to Potiphar, he did not give
Joseph any opportunity to speak. Joseph was sent straight to the prison by his master. Joseph went through all these ordeals without being given any opportunity to
defend himself.
Q3a. HOW DID JOSEPH REACT WHEN HE SAW HIS BROTHERS? (Gen. 43:16-34; 45:1-15)
When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognised them but they did not recognise him; he instructed that they should be brought into his house. He told his domestic staff to make ready a meal so that his brothers can dine with him at noon. Joseph was very kind to his brothers and never showed any sign of bitterness towards them.
He was very emotional to the extent that he
secretly wept. He was glad that he reunited with his brothers as he made himself known to them and said to them that he was their brother, whom they sold into Egypt. Joseph told his brothers not to be grieved or angry with themselves that they sold him out. He saw it as God sending
him to Egypt to preserve lives and preserve them a posterity in the earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance. (Gen. 45:7-8). Joseph attributed all that had happened to him as a way of God lifting him to be a ruler in Egypt. Arrangements were made for all the family members of Joseph to relocate to Egypt. Jacob was finally reunited with Joseph his beloved son even in his life time.
Q3b. HOW DID JOSEPH’S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD HELP IN HANDLING THE HURTS AND OFFENCES? ANY LESSONS? (Gen.45:5-8)
Joseph’s knowledge of God helped him greatly in handling the hurts and
offences that he experienced. He believed that God is over all. God is able to bring good
outcomes from bad situations. He believed that his being in Egypt at such a time was
divinely designed by God in order to preserve the lives of his family members among
others. The lesson from this is that believers should trust God, commit their lives to God no matter what they are passing through. We should understand that the experience of Joseph was not a matter of days, weeks, months, but spanned through several years during which his trust in God never waned but was unshaken. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Ps. 34:19). We must realise this. The Scripture says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose” (Rom.8:28). We should not despair (lose all hope) in the face of adversity because God is with us. “If thou faint in the day of dversity, thy strength is small” (Prov. 24:10). Therefore, we should never give up.
DAILY LIVING APPLICATION:
We have a lot to learn from the manner and approach Joseph took in handling the hurts he experienced from his brothers and from the house of Potiphar in Egypt. Joseph’s
knowledge of God helped him to forgive all those who may have offended him in the course of all his trials/travails. Forgiveness is like a medicine (balm) that cures wounds that
result from hurts and offences. Let us learn to forgive others, not because they deserve it but we need the peace that comes with forgiveness.
MEMORY VERSE:
MATT. 6:15
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”
