Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
In the USA, today is officially “Labor Day”. In 1894, by an act of Congress, the first Monday of September was declared to be a national holiday celebrating the importance of the labor force in America, which keeps our economy and our culture functioning. This three day weekend has come to mean many things to Americans, including the transition from Summer to Fall. For millions of families that means school begins again and that always brings with it a sense of ‘fresh start’. Do you like ‘fresh starts’ like a new job, or marriage, or relocation to a new home, or retirement? Today let’s look at one of the most significant ‘fresh starts’ of all time.
We’ve been following the story of Joseph in the Bible book of Genesis. Yesterday I left you in one of the most startling family reunions of all time. Joseph finally identified himself to his brothers who had sold him into slavery 20 years before! They were stunned and Joseph forgave them for what they had done to him with this statement: “Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be neither plowing nor reaping. God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Gen. 45:5-7)
Do you see Joseph’s powerful statement “God sent me ahead of you” is twice repeated? That tells me Joseph had spent endless hours over these 13 years in slavery, trying to understand WHY God had allowed him to experience family rejection, humiliations, and slavery!? Along the way, clearly Joseph had come to understand that God was with him in that slavery (Gen. 39:2, 21, 23) and God was working a much larger purpose than he could imagine. Only after Pharaoh elevated Joseph from prisoner to Prime Minister, responsible for managing all of Egypt’s agriculture in anticipation of famine, did Joseph realize what God’s larger purpose had been all along. Now there’s a lesson here my friends for all of us! Do you see it?
God is always fully AWARE of all that is happening here on planet earth and in your life and mine. God is also always WORKING to accomplish His larger purposes and plans in our world, for His glory! And God is always LOOKING to see who is ready for HIM to include in what He is doing to accomplish His purposes, everywhere in the world. Remember this verse I’ve given you many times: “The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro across the whole earth, looking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him.” (2 Chron. 16:9) God is working in the PRESENT, building on the PAST, and in anticipation of what He knows will be the FUTURE. Can you grasp the significance of that my friends?
How often have you seen in your life, that God has invited you into participation with HIM in what HE is doing in our world to accomplish His great purposes? As Joseph understood that, he was able to forgive his brothers for what they had done to him, because God has used that horrible slavery experience to POSITION Joseph in the strategic and influential role that he now had, so he was able to take the necessary action to save their lives and their families!
But God was planning even more than what Joseph saw. The record says: “When news of this reached Pharaoh’s palace, Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Tell your brothers to load their animals with grain and return to their land of Canaan, and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land…. take some carts from Egypt for your children, your wives and get your father too. Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.” (Gen. 45:16-20) Now ponder that for a moment my friends! Similar to how it had been for Joseph, when in a few moments he went from being an imprisoned slave in Pharaoh’s dungeon to be the Prime Minister of all Egypt, so now for Joseph’s brothers they have gone from being distrusted, starving refugees, seeking some food for their family, to a personal invitation from the Pharaoh, to move all their families to Egypt and settle in the very best part of the land! My friends, when God pours out his blessing, have you discovered it is beyond calculation, beyond our understanding!? Have you experienced that? WHEN?
So the Genesis record says Joseph’s brothers loaded up the grain on their donkey’s, borrowed some Egyptian carts and I presume some oxen, and began their journey back home to Canaan. They were overwhelmed by what they had experienced in Egypt with Joseph and I’m sure as they walked, they discussed over and over again how they were going to explain all this to their aged father Jacob. Have you ever had trouble explaining a great outpouring of God’s blessing upon you, especially to people who have no relationship with God whatsoever? We have only a few verses which describe to us their arrival back home and their shocking explanation to their father Jacob: “So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father in the land of Canaan. They told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is the ruler of all Egypt’. Jacob was stunned, he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when Jacob saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him and his family back to Egypt, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said ‘I am convinced! My son Joseph is alive! I will go and see him before I die.” (Gen. 45:25-28)
Let’s spend the rest of today in that scene my friends! I’m sure Jacob had many questions, and his sons probably stumbled all over themselves trying to explain what they had experienced in Egypt, on both of their trips there. Eventually, of course, Jacob’s deepest question had to be answered… can you see him looking into his sons’ eyes and saying something like this: ‘Why did you, my sons, lie to me 22 years ago? Why did you tell me that my son Joseph had been killed by an animal? I knew you were jealous of my love for my son Joseph, the son of my dear Rachel, but I never thought you would stoop to such deception and break my heart in that way. You’ve watched me suffer all these years, thinking my son was dead?’ WHY?’
I can only imagine how many times these sons of Jacob tried to explain to their mothers what had happened 22 years before with Joseph. What was it like for them to begin packing up what they would take with them to Egypt. They knew the famine had 5 more years. Neither Joseph nor Pharaoh had invited them to move to Egypt permanently. This was intended to be temporary refugee status. Jacob knew full well that he and his sons were the Covenant family God had promised his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac and that WHERE they lived was the Covenant homeland God had promised. I wonder if Jacob called a big family meeting to explain all that and make sure his family was NOT thinking they were about to become Egyptian citizens! This was an emergency provision of God, sparing them from death… yet I see no evidence in Genesis 45 that they built an altar and had a worship service thanking God for this miracle! Instead they packed up and soon they could set out for Egypt!
As you and I watch them pack and wrestle with the news of Joseph, what do you see, what do you hear them talking about, and what do you suppose was going on in their hearts? Was anyone calling them to see the gracious and mighty hand of God in all this?
Are you someone who is careful to give God the praise He deserves when these types of things happen in your life? I think it’s time to pray, what about you? ...Oh God we thank you for your gracious kindness to us…
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 45:16-28.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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