A swimming instructor in New Jersey saw a car sinking into Newark Bay and heard the driver inside screaming “I can’t swim” as his SUV quickly sank into the murky waters. As a crowd watched from shore, Anthony ran to the rocks along the edge, removed his prosthetic leg, and jumped in to rescue the sixty-eight-year-old man and help him safely to shore. Thanks to Anthony’s decisive action, another man was saved.
Our choices matter. Consider our patriarch Jacob, the father of
12 sons, who openly favored his seventeen-year-old son Joseph. He foolishly
made Joseph “an ornate robe” (Genesis 37:3). The result? Joseph’s brothers
hated him (v. 4); and when the opportunity arose, they sold him into slavery
(v. 28). Yet because Joseph ended up in Egypt, we learn in this week’s Torah
portion that God used him to preserve his family and many others during a
seven-year famine—despite Joseph’s brothers’ intention to harm him (see 50:20).
The choice that set it all in motion in this week’s Torah portion Meketz was
Joseph’s decision to be honorable and run from Potiphar’s wife (39:1–12). The
result was prison (39:20) and an eventual meeting with Pharaoh (ch. 41).
Anthony had the advantage of training, but he still had to make
a choice. When we love God and seek to serve Him, we can make life-affirming
and God-honoring choices.
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