God loves.

John 3:16-17 (ESV)

For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Blaming God is foolish.

 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Numbers 21:5-6 ESVST
 
Many people of Israel died. Some would blame God. Some would blame the leadership. Few took personal responsibility.
 
Some things never change. Many blame God, leadership, or someone else for their problems, but the problem is themselves. Personal responsibility is absent when excuses are abundant. Without personal responsibility, there is no possible way to fix whatever is broken.
 
The children of Israel had eclipsed the terrible conditions of Egypt with the discomforts of their present conditions. Focusing on the now eclipses the future. Thinking about self minimizes and blames others. What we focus on and think about is our choice, and there are consequences to those choices.
 
Throughout history, God has taken a bum rap, and those who insist on blaming Him and His ways will regret that decision.

Coveting and Lusting are sins

 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them, "See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came into me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house." Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came into me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house."

Genesis 39:11-18 (ESV)

You would think Potiphar's wife had everything she needed or wanted, yet she chose to focus on what she could not have. She exemplifies an aspect of mental illness that is often ignored.
Coveting or lusting is a desire for something we do not or cannot have, and these desires eventually possess us until we act out in desperation. Coveting and lusting are similar in that they are both birthed from the desire to use something or someone for our personal pleasure. The misery comes because we were not created to find satisfaction in things but were created to love, not use, people.

Coveting focuses on how life would be if we had what someone else had. This could be a marriage, car, job, family, and more. The more we focus on what others have compared to what we have, the more dissatisfied we will be. (For some reason, we usually do not focus on people who have less than us and are content or happy.)

Lusting is the desire to use instead of love and destroy all semblance of respect, honor, and dignity.

Coveting and lusting are sins; those involved in a sinful lifestyle will be miserable. The answer is acknowledging our sin (1 John 1:9) and focusing on what is right.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)

How did he know?

 

His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. Genesis 39:3-4 (ESV) It was obvious that the Lord was with Joseph. Is it evident that the Lord is with you and me? How would it be obvious to your family, those you work with, or strangers on the street that the Lord is with you? Joseph knew God and acted like anyone would act who knew God, and by his actions, others knew who and what he believed. He is an excellent example for us today.

Our choices are real.

 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Genesis 37:34-36 (ESV)

Evil causes pain to the innocent and the guilty. My sin will affect everyone in my family, workplace, church, and more. Nobody's sin is a private affair between the sinner and God. Essentially, my sins hurt me and anyone else who trusts or loves me, making sin a self-absorbed, narcissistic action.

God is the one who will judge, but because our choices are real, our consequences are real.
When we get a distance from our sin and see its effect in the world and beyond, we begin to hate sin, and that’s exactly where we need to be.

One day…

 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams." But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him"—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Genesis 37:18-25 (ESV)
These brothers were in tough shape. First, they took Joseph and tossed him into a pit to die, then they sat down to eat. How can anyone enjoy a meal while murdering a relative? Rueben was bothered, but the other boys seemed fine with murder.
Throughout history, the most brutal people preyed on the most innocent and helpless among them. Those who sacrificed babies on altars to false gods did so easily, since babies cannot fight back. In this case, Joseph was the youngest and could not fight back. Today people legally kill their babies before they see them; they cannot fight back.
Anyone who commits murder will stand accountable to God. Anyone who even leads someone else to disobey God will be held responsible to God. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6 (ESV)
It is obvious that Reuben was not totally with this plan, and I would guess that some of the other brothers were also on the fence. Yet, as is often the case, those with power persuaded the crowd to follow their idea. I am not God, and none of these boys will ever stand accountable to me, but they will give an account to God, and I pity those who made a wrong decision here and, even more, those who persuaded those on the fence to join in.
One day, God will make everything right and hold everyone accountable for their actions. It is that day for which we should be preparing.
 

Atmosphere

 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, "Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?" And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Genesis 37:9-11 (ESV)

There are many moving parts to relationships. In this instance, a young man relates a dream to his family and gets rebuked for sharing its content.

We know that we do not control our dreams, so why the response?  Was it the atmosphere in a home? The atmosphere creates or dismantles tension. For example, the pressure was directed toward Joseph because of his dad's favoritism. Dad had to say something because the dream was 'insulting' to the other family members, jealousy was dominant in family gatherings, and jealousy always ended in disaster.

What is the atmosphere in your home? Why?