Wednesday Word 8.11.2021

 Genesis 45:3-9 New Living Translation

3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And 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. 9 “Now hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. So come down to me immediately!”

Joseph was truly favored by God. Not only did God pull him through so many unjust and dangerous situations, but God gave Joseph the wisdom and discernment to look back on his journey and put the events into proper perspective. His brothers threw him in a well, then sold him into slavery, and that brought him to Egypt where he could rise to a position of authority in a rich man’s home. When the woman of the house cried “wolf” to punish Joseph for spurning her advances, he was wrongly imprisoned. There he made good impressions and connections that would lead to him Pharaoh’s palace. Once again, his abilities to unravel the mysterious meanings of dreams and administrative acumen put Joseph in the absolute right place at the right time to govern like a prince and save the lives of not only the Egyptian people, but his own people. After it all, Joseph could look back and see how God had led him and preserved him at every turn.

What a gift, to be able to look back and clearly see the path you have traveled from an objective point of view! If we could detach ourselves from our experiences, we might be able to see where God has worked in us and through us. It certainly helped Joseph to free himself from anger and recriminations, and to find joy in the way God transformed the twists and turns into the positive. It might help us to learn from the past instead of living in the past and, in doing so, move closer to being the men and women we were meant to be…something to pray about.

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today, Vicki H.