How have you learned some hard lessons?  Did the Lord use your circumstances and/or individuals to teach you His truths?  Are you turning to God more often and with a growing understanding of what He is teaching you?

Joseph had a lot to learn and so did his eleven brothers.

Boastfulness is pride.  Arrogance also comes to mind.  Thinking of oneself more highly than one ought to think is pride.  The teen-ager Joseph had no sense of humility, his pride and boastfulness landed him in big trouble.  He was a spoiled rotten kid.

“Listen” to what Joseph told his father and brothers – again!
(NASB) Genesis 37:9-11 “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, ‘Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’
10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have had?  Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?’
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”

Joseph did not know when to be quiet!  He talked waaaay too much.  He did not use discernment or show love for his brothers.  And his brothers had no love for him.

The Lord used Joseph’s circumstances and his brothers’ hatred to bring him to the point of being used mightily by the Lord God.  And it took years of enslavement, a false accusation and prison.

The time was not wasted… Joseph learned to lean on the living God in his circumstances.  He was taught valuable lessons and he learned them well.

~ Take it to heart ~

Be teachable under God’s tutelage.

Learn the lessons He has for you.

Blessing upon blessing will be given to you and many others.

(NASB) Proverbs 9:9
“Give instruction to a wise man and he will be wiser still,
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.”