The Scarred Limbs and the Tiny Green Tomato

          Several weeks ago, I wrote of spotting tobacco hornworms on the Celebrity tomato plants I put in the back beds. By the time I saved one little tomato plant from the destructive hornworm, the little plant had been gnawed pitifully. I regretted not saving it from the vicious pest before so much harm was inflicted.

The gnawed limbs are visible near
the tiny green tomato.
           I continued watering all the tomato plants faithfully. Soon I noticed a tiny green tomato emerging on the damage plant. Maybe it would be productive. Day after day, I watered each plant - that is except on those glorious days that God sent rain. Almost imperceptibly, the tiny green tomato grew. Within weeks, I noticed the limb on which the tomato was attached hung a little lower as it grew.
           A slight reddish hue started enveloping the tomato as it flourished. Finally, the day came when it could be picked. What an accomplishment for the little tomato plant attacked by the devastating tobacco hornworm!
                                                                                         
Just about ready to pick!

             As I thought of the ordeal of the little tomato plant, I remembered Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham, the patriarch to whom God made the eternal promises for his descendants, the Israelis. Joseph was born to Jacob and Rachel, Jacob's true love and the only woman he really wanted for a wife. Yet Jacob ended up with twelve sons and a daughter born to three different women and Rachel. No one would be surprised to learn this conundrum of family dynamics led to jealousy.
             Jacob lost his soul mate in childbirth when their second son, Benjamin, was born. Joseph became his father's favorite. Jacob even designed a beautiful coat for his much-loved son. Just seeing the multi-colored garment incensed the older ten brothers. Their jealousy morphed into hatred. The hatred denigrated into the premeditation of Joseph's murder. In God's providence, He caused a caravan of traders to intersect with the brothers bent on Joseph's demise. They sold Joseph, their father's beloved son and source of comfort, for the price of a slave.
            Despite Joseph’s years of adversity in Egypt as a slave, multiple times, God’s Word records, “The Lord was with him” and “the Lord gave him success…” Over and over when disheartened by difficulties generated by situations and people, Joseph trusted and obeyed the Lord.
            How often does the little tomato plant illustrate our lives! We all, without exception, are attacked by Satan’s schemes to “steal, kill and destroy” us. As the destructive hornworm inflicted its ruinous consumption on this tender tomato plant, so our lives reflect the toll of the enemy’s damage. The Apostle Peter in his first letter clearly delineates the only way to rise above such adversity –

Therefore, those who are ill-treated and suffer in accordance with the will of God must [continue to] do right and commit their souls [for safe-keeping] to the faithful Creator. I Peter 4:19

          Yet Joseph’s story did not end there. Just as the harmed little Celebrity tomato plant produced a gorgeous tomato right at the point of loss, so God revealed to Joseph His purpose for his family and eventually, the entire nation of Israel who would give the Messiah – the Lord Jesus to the world. May this explanation spoken by Joseph to his sibling captors be a watchword for us when we feel like the little misused tomato plant. 

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, 

In order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:19-20

Note: To learn how Jacob ended up with children from four women, read Genesis 29-30:1-24.

For a clear Biblical understanding of Joseph's life, read chapter 37 and chapters 39-50 in Genesis. You will not be disappointed.