Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, September 25, 2026
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Maybe Joseph could’ve had a little more humility. Could he have, perhaps, kept to himself these dreams he’d had about his brothers bowing down to him? On the other hand, they were only dreams. Why did it bother his brothers so darn much unless they suspected it was actually going to happen? And if they were convinced of this, why did they think anything they could have done to him would stop it from happening?
I think Joseph’s brothers needed to love themselves. Yeah, their dad played favorites, and no one likes to be the non-favorite. But it is possible to grow up in such a situation and develop enough self-love and self-confidence to make your own way. To recognize that God loves and values every beloved child equally. Instead, they were small-minded and rather than accept that they were enough even without their dad’s favor, they said, “Well if we can’t be dad’s favorite, then Joseph can’t either.”
Not everyone can win the championship. Or get the best score or the top prize or the big promotion. The question is whether those things even matter. Frankly, I think they don’t. Our culture is relentless in telling us we aren’t enough, and that we don’t have enough, so businesses can sell us things we don’t need that promise to solve problems we don’t really have. Who cares if your brother-in-law makes seven figures while you’re trying to make it as a local musician? Give me music every time.
Where am I harboring resentment unnecessarily? How can I reconnect to the truth that I am enough?
