We can all identify with, HATERS. The sad story is, all of us have been hated at one time or another. When we think of HATERS, we think of people outside of the family, however; many times it is the people closest to us, that are doing the hating. I do not say this to offend anyone, but the reality is, if we are honest with ourselves, I believe we maybe guilty of hating on somebody, or something at one time or another in our lives. The answer to why we hate, I can not give, other than selfishness, envy, and jealousy. Hate is a part of our sin nature. Hate is so powerful, that people are hated who have not done anything to any body. The other extreme is that something probably did happen (as to someone had wronged you), but the person could not drop it, so instead they picked-up hate.
Gregory Parks has penned a book titled Haters. According to Parks, "haters hate due to insecurities, low self-esteem, and deep envy. They see others doing better than them, compare themselves to others, and lash out in myriad forms, including via social media, whisper campaigns, mobbing (forming a group to bully), and even physical violence."
The word Haters means, according to the Urban Dictionary is, "A person that simply can not be happy for another person's success." When President Obama became president, the Haters came out of the closets, and again when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Haters intensified their dislike of him. This reaction reminds me of the poem Haters by Maya Angelo. She said, "When God gives you favor, you can tell your haters, Don't look at me...Look at Who is in charge of me..."
I was born and raised in Atlanta. During the Ivan Allen's administration in the 1960s, in an effort to promote Atlanta as a racially progressive city and to distinguish Atlanta from the racial violence that was occurring in the other Southern cities, the city leaders coined the slogan, "The City Too Busy Too Hate." This reminds me of a song titled, "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" recorded by The Persuaders. The meaning of this phrase means, the emotions of love and hatred can be closely linked. Many people have experienced a "love-hate relationship," that is a very narrow division between feelings of love and feelings of hate. According to The Independent, "Scientists studying the physical nature of hate have found that some of the nervous circuits in the brain responsible for it are the same as those that are used during the feeling of romantic love - although love and hate appear to be polar opposites." When we look at the story of Joseph in the Bible, we are able to see the reality of that statement.
There is a popular saying, "The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree." This was a true statement yesterday, and it is still a true statement today. This popular saying means that children typically inherit some of the same traits as their parents. The sin of one generation comes back to beset the next generation. Jacob the father of the twelves tribes of Israel, was a man who didn't mind deceiving others. He tricked his brother out of his birthright. Him and his mother Rebekah, deceived Isaac his father, and stole the blessing that was intended for his brother Esau. He even pulled a fast one on his uncle Laban, who was a rascal himself. The Bible tells us, "And Isaac loved Esau, because 'he did eat of his venison:' but Rachel loved Jacob" (Genesis 25:28).
The moral compass behind all this, when we sew corn, we reap corn, and when we sew deceit, we also reap deceit. We get exactly what we sew. When we think we are getting ahead in God's Book, we are really getting behind. This is true in the spiritual realm, the moral realm, as well as in the physical realm.
Joseph was the son born to Rachel, the woman Jacob fell in love with at first sight. Scripture makes it clear, "Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him" (Genesis 37:3-4).
The first problem here is Jacob loved Joseph so much that it infuriated his brothers. Jacob planted the seed that caused them to hate. He spoiled one, (Joseph), and end up losing the others, for their treacherous nature quickly surfaced in resentment. Jacob should have understood that playing favorites would have caused trouble. His own father had a favorite, the elder son (Esau) over him. Therefore, he knew what it was like to be in that situation.
When Joseph announced his first dream, and he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He told them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly by sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it" (Genesis 37:6-7).
The brothers were angered because of his dream. His brothers said, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us" (Genesis 37:8)? They hated him the more, because of his dream and what he said. Again, I must use a quote from Maya Angelo, "That's why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can't handle seeing you blessed."
When envy, selfishness, and jealousy raises their ugly heads, the root of hatred begins to eat away at the person, and if it festers, it causes one to strike out, to say things that can't be taken back, or do things that cause regret and remorse. But the way out is through repentance, at the thought of evil against your sister or brother, and the Lord will do the rest.
The first dream was set around agriculture, but then Joseph had a second dream and it was set around the solar system. Joseph said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me" (Genesis 37:9). This dream was a little more hurtful for it included not only his brothers, but his parents also. In this dream the sun represented the father, the moon was his mother, and the eleven stars were his brothers. In the ancient culture the astronomical symbols represented rulers. The dream then symbolic, elevated Joseph over the whole house of Jacob. When he told his father his dream, his father rebuked him and said, 'What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you" (Genesis 37:10). "His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind" (Genesis 37:11).
After the dream the brothers could not get out of their heads that Joseph was putting himself in a place of authority above them. So one day his brothers were grazing the flock, which were some distance away from the house, and they began to plot how they should kill Joseph, the Dreamer. In the meantime Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, by the Lord, summoned Joseph and sent him to find his brothers. Israel told Joseph, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me" (Genesis 37:14).
It appears that Joseph might have been a little tattle-tale, always snitching on his brothers, which also caused them to be envious of him. As Joseph journeyed to find his brothers, near Dothan, they saw him coming from a distance, but before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. They said to each other, "Here comes the dreamer" (Genesis 37:19). With malice and forethought, they were ready to take his life. Reuben didn't want to kill him and he said, "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him" (Genesis 37:22). So they stripped him of his robe that he was wearing and they threw him into the cistern, then they sat down to eat their meal. When they looked up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, they were on their way to Egypt. When they came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver, to the Ishmaelites and they took him to Egypt.
Upon returning home, they took the coat that their father had made for Joseph and dipped it into goat's blood, then concocted a story to make it appear that some ferocious animal had devoured him. This deception brought grief to the heart of Jacob. Jacob recognized the robe and said, "It is my son's robe. Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces" (Genesis 37:33).
Jacob had once deceived his father with a goat, using the goat's skin to impersonate his brother's hairy arms. Now, he himself was cruelly deceived by the blood of a goat on Joseph's coat, by his sons.
May I please give you five points about HATERS? First of all HATERS has no distinguishing features, zip codes, nor area codes. They are just like regular people. They dress like you and me. They look like you and me, and in the case of Joseph, they might be related to you.
Secondly, your HATERS can not do no more to you than God will allow them to do. Believers are never in the battlefield all alone.
Thirdly, don't give your HATERS power and authority over you. When you react to their negativity, then you are no better than they are.
Fourth, remember HATERS make you true to what you believe. You will either react with the love of God or the love of the world.
Finally, when your HATERS seek to devour you, remember who you are and whose you are. Watch and pray, and your God will do the rest.
Always remember this, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn" (Isaiah 54:17). "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Peter puts it this way, "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil" (1 Peter 3:12). Why not call your HATERS, "now-n-later," because the all-seeing eyes of God has taken notice of what they are doing now and He will truly get them later. The battle is not yours, it is the Lord's.
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