23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Genesis 37:23-25

These were some very cold people in this family. They tossed Joseph – their brother – in the well and then sat down to eat. All in a day’s work.

Knowing how it ends doesn’t minimize what they did to their own brother. For what it’s worth, Reuben did spare his life.

There’s a local talk radio host who reads current stories such as this, pauses, and says, “What is wrong with people?” He gets it because as King Solomon said later, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” People were messed up back them; not much has changed. Wrong thinking leads to wrong actions.

School has started for many around the country or will start very soon. You leave your children with people you hope have right and godly thinking. The kids are with them for 6-8 hours a day.

Pray for the children in your life. They are easily susceptible to beliefs that may be contrary to your own. Satan desperately wants the minds of this next generation and he’ll stop at nothing to achieve it. Pray for God’s protection on these kids’ minds and hearts as they go through this school year. Engage with them; probe their thinking, and pray that God would draw them each close to Him.