December 2, 2020
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 45 (NIV)
Joseph Makes Himself Known
1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it........Continue Reading
Genesis 45
The wisdom and grace shown by Joseph towards his brothers , I pray to exhibit such character, and Joseph is so optimistic and extollling his faith in God
How excited Jacob must have been to learn that his son is still alive.
So awesome that Joseph finally got to tell them who he was and so much emotion behind that reveal. I loved the Joseph’s focus was not the wrong that his brothers had done but rather how God used this bad situation for good!
Genesis 45
Genesis 45
I love seeing God’s sovereignty in action. He was in control from beginning to end. As a result, all things worked together for good. It is comforting to know that God will use every aspect of our lives, even hopeless situations, to bring about His plan. Also worth noting is how forgiveness is always a part of His plan.
eSo it is clear that Judah said what Joseph was looking for and he just can’t help it not to reveal who he is. How exciting this must have been and how noteworthy it is that Joseph looks to protect his brothers’ feelings rather than blaming them. Now it is the unfolding of God’s plan that helps that happen but Jospeh could have easily used his power to crush them. I love that he recognizes that it really was God who sent him there and not them. What grace and confidence God’s sovereignty provides for Joseph and us! We can also see the great wisdom in God’s plan to do the very thing Joseph says, to save lives, especially this budding nation, the Jews.
I also love to see Pharaoh’s graciousness to Joseph and his family. This is not the last time the Jews will be blessed by the Egyptians…..But how fitting that Pharaoh would do this. Without Joseph he and Egypt would face disaster, but now he and the Egyptians are blessed because everyone is coming to them to buy food!
But all this also explains how the chosen people, who had land promised in Palestine, end up in Egypt. And what an expression of God’s plan is in that for them! But one can only imagine how great it was for Jacob to hear his son was alive! One wonders what explaining the brothers might need to do…..But I just love what Joseph says as they leave….”Don’t quarrel on the way”. You can imagine as they think of telling Jacob the finger pointing that might go on and the arguing about it on the way back home. What wise words Joseph shares but also an expression of him protecting their feelings rather than beating them up….
Joseph recognizes “the big picture” and reveals God’s sovereign plan of all that happened to him to his brothers.
“And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
We often don’t see the big picture in our lives….but we DO know the big picture and that is judgment on the earth and eternal life for those who are in Christ. What we see now is actually just a snap shot…..perhaps we are lowly servants, perhaps we are in prison….but God has a future in glory for us.
Amen!
3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.