Child prodigies inspire their peers and parents alike with their exceptional talents. Who cannot hear a ten-year-old violinist play Paganini flawlessly or watch a twelve-year-old pitch a perfect game with a seventy mile-per-hour fastball and not be in awe?
Greatness attracts and repels those who witness it. Some see exceptionally gifted children and marvel. Others walk away envious of their jaw-dropping skill. Instantly, their mind fills with irrational jealously.
Classmates can feel threatened and insecure in their presence. Parents of seemingly less gifted children may view them as a rival to their child’s path to success. Life does not come as easily for child prodigies as their talent does.
Contrary to popular opinion, their extraordinary proficiency does not ensure future greatness. The 2010 article, “Why Gifted Children Are Just As Likely to Fail in Life”, in the U.K.’s Daily Mail cites a study that followed wunderkinds into
adulthood.
The researchers found that only 3% of the 210 people they studied fulfilled “their early promise.” Why? There are multiple reasons. Overbearing parents, social isolation and emotional immaturity are factors that may contribute to their inability to reach the heights of success that they seemed destined for in their childhood.
Professor Joan Freeman says, “being gifted means being better able to deal with things intellectually but not always emotionally.” In other words, a kid may be a musical savant or a math wizz, but lack the social skills to successfully navigate adolescence and ultimately adulthood.
Sadly, a successful destiny can take an unexpected detour. What’s true for today was true in the ancient world as well. The Bible provides us with a classic case study in the story of Jacob’s most favored son. Joseph, the one known for his coat of many colors, sees his promising destiny take a sudden detour in Genesis 37. Joseph is a naïve seventeen-year-old with big, God-inspired dreams for his future.
Like most prodigies, he innocently shows off his intellectual skills to his family. To say that their reaction is mixed would be a gross understatement. For Joseph’s dad, he’s initially unsure about his beloved, yet precocious son. As for Joseph’s ten older brothers, the gloves are off. They’ve had enough of playing second fiddle to Daddy’s prized virtuoso.
Genesis 37:1-11 reads: 1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.2 This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." 8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, 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?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
The tension is building in this dysfunctional family. As we read on, Joseph’s jealous brothers have plans for their family’s prodigy. They make sure that Joseph’s dreams of destiny take a sudden detour. But behind the scenes, this disastrous detour is actually the path God has for Joseph to reach his destiny.
This article is an excerpt from this Sunday's sermon. All are welcome to join us for worship this Sunday at 10:30 am. Lighthouse Community Baptist Church is located at 22 Pequot Trail in Pawcatuck.
