Saturday 27 Sep 2014

September 27: Genesis 45:1-7

Key Verse: Genesis 45:5
And 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.

Devotion:
Joseph must have had a really difficult time trying to hide his feelings as his brothers came before him; but somehow he did manage it right up until this point. Now he tells all of his servants and helpers to leave the room while he talks to his brothers to find out if the rest of his family are still alive and well. His brothers are shocked to find out that this man in charge of everything is their brother and fear for their lives wondering if Joseph is going to get his own back on them now. Joseph’s reaction takes them by surprise as he tries to persuade them he is not going to harm them but wants to take care of them instead.

How do you think you would have reacted in those circumstances? Would you have wanted to get your own back and at least make them suffer a bit? Did Joseph do that through allowing them to get blamed for the items he had placed into their bags? We are not told the exact reasons for everything here but we do get to know that Joseph still loved his family. He may have thought very little of them when he was sold and when he was placed in the well; but when he came face to face with them again, the love that he had in the beginning flowed as strong as it was back them.

If we are willing to put aside the little things in our lives and allow love to grow and be preserved, then we too will be more like Joseph and more able to find that same love in Christ too. We may look at this and say that being put in a well or sold as a slave were not little things; but compared to the famine and what was going on now, those were actually small fry. And that is how we need to move forward in our lives. We need to take a look at the trials and other things that go wrong and see them for the small fry that they are when compared with the grand scheme of things in our lives.

God allows many things to happen in our lives and we must not allow every single things to get us down otherwise we will be dwelling on those things rather than seeing how God is moving in our lives. Joseph saw the big picture and he wanted his brothers to see it as well; only then would they be able to let go of the past and move forward with God in their lives.

Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in your past?

What if God got caught in your past?