Skip to main content

Daily Devotion: Genesis 45:4-8

By

Genesis 45:4-8    "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. (5)  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (6)  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. (7)  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (8 )  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God..."

The mindset of Joseph as he named his two sons wsa this, "God has made me forget all my toil and has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." In today's passages, he has the opportunity to put that mindset into action. Joseph could have just as easily held his brothers at bay and made them suffer for their action in selling him to the slave traders; but instead, he showed mercy and favor upon them.  As he revealed himself to them, he was showing his forgetfulness of their actions and the fruitfulness of his life.  In his words to his brothers, he was revealing God's hand upon him in all matters. They had put him in a pit, but God had raised him up to this position of power. He knew in his heart that God had placed him there for the very purpose of delivering his family. "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God..."

I see two wonderful lessons in these passages. First, I see a word picture of the work of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver by one of his own disciples and delivered into the hands of cruel Roman soldiers. But the Father was always with Him. Peter stated it in this manner, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth,...  being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up." (Acts 2:22-24)  Joseph would have said, " Though your wicked hands crucified Him.... It was not you that sent Him there, but God." And the reason the Father sent Him there was because of His absolute unconditional love for His children.  The second lesson that I see in this speaks of God's promise to be with us in all situations and circumstances to work good in our lives. He gave His Son to die for us; therefore, we can trust Him to see us through each day.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Devotion: Enter With Thanksgiving - Psalm 100:1-5

By
One of the most beautiful Psalms of Thanksgiving is the 100th Psalm. Please turn to it and read verses one through five. With all my heart I believe we are a people and a nation that has truly been blessed by God. Of all those who “give thanks to Him and praise His name” we should be at the top!  It is not uncommon to compile wish lists at Christmas, and draw up a list of resolutions for the new year. But there is another list we often overlook - a Thanksgiving Day list of all for which we are thankful. What would your list contain? Most likely, a good part would be material possessions. I’m convinced that we would find that we have much more for which to be thankful than just our material possessions.  Like you, I’m sure my list would include the major things - life, health, family, friends, and the nation we live in, despite all its flaws. But even more than that, I’m thankful for my salvation, my Church family, and the mercy that God showers upon us each d...
Read more

Daily Devotion: An Important Question

By
In one of the great Psalms of thanksgiving, the writer asked a most pertinent question. “What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His benefits toward me” (Psalm 116:12) ? We may observe two elements in this question. The psalmist acknowledges having received many benefits, or blessings, at the hand of the Lord. For the believer, to be the receiver of blessings from the Lord is a fact beyond question. That is one facet of a proper perception of reality. However, for the unbeliever, or even for the nominal believer, such things come in the course of nature, or as a matter of deserving them. But to fail to see that such benefits and blessings come from the Lord is to lose touch with reality. The other element of the question is that the writer expresses a sense of obligation to the Lord and reveals a desire to do something in response to the amazing goodness of God to him. It is the reflex of the godly heart to desire to do something in response to the perceived go...
Read more