Category    Humility ; Follow Jesus ; Bible Believing ; Faith ; Pleasing to God ; Reflecting Christ

 

Scripture: Genesis 45.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

….. he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt.5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.6 This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.7 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. 8 So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt. Gen 45:4-8 (NLT)

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

Christians are often persecuted for their beliefs, and their stand on certain issues for which they have strong Biblical guidance. Like in the case of Joseph, sometimes people become very jealous or envious of us for taking such a stand and often they will react in such a way that we may become hurt and/or despondent. However, like we can see in this familiar story of Joseph, he showed his brothers that he had forgiven them for their actions because he realized, and now they should realize, that God had a purpose in it all. While I believe that we see very evident in the story the purpose why Joseph wound up where he was, I believe that if we look closer at the brothers we will see that God had some serious work to do in them, for they were extremely jealous of the relationship and love their father had for Joseph. Wickedness to the degree that they were willing to kill Joseph, which was mellowed down to leaving him in a hole to die from the elements or attacked by animals, then mellowed down even more to selling him to total strangers. This may all sound very far out, but friends in and of our own wicked selves, we will resort to many actions that may be displeasing to God. Our job is to seek His perfect will for our lives, stay in the center of His will, and allow Him to do His work in and through us. We can keep so busy doing all this that is ‘right’ in God’s eyes that we will have no time to think of schemes and wickedness against our brother or sister. Let’s not be so quick to retaliate against those that, we think, may persecute us. God may be allowing that to correct an issue in their lives and also preparing us for bigger and greater things ahead. Let’s remember, that when we stay in the center of God’s will, we are on the winning side, the victor’s side, God’s side!

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Lord Jesus there is such a challenge in this concept for me, and I believe most Christians, for we are humanly prone to look for ways to retaliate instead of looking for the blessings in all that is being brought on us. Please help me to be more like Joseph and know that a blessing is coming, even if I never see it, but that I will serve You in spite of the circumstances. Growing up I learned a saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words never will” so please help me to stay focused on You, no matter what may be said of me. Please help me to stay so focused on You that my words and actions will automatically reflect Your actions and Your words. Please provide opportunities for me to ‘love my neighbor’ through multiple ways and actions today so that I may share Christ with them. As I do this, I’ll not have time to think of what is being said, by those not as focused, to tear me down.