The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 43:13-14,
"Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
These are the words Jacob spoke to his sons when he sent them back to Egypt to buy grain a second time. During a famine Jacob had sent them to buy grain earlier and it turns out the man they had to buy the grain from in Egypt (unknowingly) was their brother Joseph!
Joseph had been sold to slave traders by his brothers years earlier. They had taken him to Egypt and through a series of amazing events Joseph became second only to Pharaoh in all of Egypt. Joseph was in charge of selling grain during the famine so he was the man the brothers had to purchase the life-saving grain from.
Following the first purchase of grain, the famine continued to ravage the area. When the purchased grain ran out, Judah said to his father, "...we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die." Verse 8. God determined he wanted Jacob and his family to move to Egypt to grow and prosper there and so he used a series of events through this famine to bring it about.
Jacob resisted having his sons go back to Egypt to buy more life saving grain... even close to the point of starvation! The first trip the brothers had made to get grain resulted in Simeon being held in Egypt and Jacob did not want to lose any more sons. However, as the prospect of starvation loomed, Jacob finally relented.
Since God had caused the famine, it was God who backed Jacob into this corner in such a way that Jacob had the choice of either sending the sons for more grain or watching his family die from starvation. The account is fascinating and contains some twists and turns to it.
The thought strikes me that God could have just spoken to Jacob and told him to go to Egypt as when Jacob had the dream about the stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it and God speaking to him then, Genesis 28:10-22. However, that is not how God chose to do it.
God could have gotten Jacob to move to Egypt efficiently and effectively by just telling him to go without the famine and its issues. However, God is not always in the business of taking people from point A to point B in a way we might consider to be most efficient. He often accomplishes many things at once and he has his own ways about bringing things about.
I may think some approach to making something happen is faster, efficient and effective. God, in his transcendence is busy doing things light-years beyond whatever it is I may think of. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8-9.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
"Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
These are the words Jacob spoke to his sons when he sent them back to Egypt to buy grain a second time. During a famine Jacob had sent them to buy grain earlier and it turns out the man they had to buy the grain from in Egypt (unknowingly) was their brother Joseph!
Joseph had been sold to slave traders by his brothers years earlier. They had taken him to Egypt and through a series of amazing events Joseph became second only to Pharaoh in all of Egypt. Joseph was in charge of selling grain during the famine so he was the man the brothers had to purchase the life-saving grain from.
Following the first purchase of grain, the famine continued to ravage the area. When the purchased grain ran out, Judah said to his father, "...we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die." Verse 8. God determined he wanted Jacob and his family to move to Egypt to grow and prosper there and so he used a series of events through this famine to bring it about.
Jacob resisted having his sons go back to Egypt to buy more life saving grain... even close to the point of starvation! The first trip the brothers had made to get grain resulted in Simeon being held in Egypt and Jacob did not want to lose any more sons. However, as the prospect of starvation loomed, Jacob finally relented.
Since God had caused the famine, it was God who backed Jacob into this corner in such a way that Jacob had the choice of either sending the sons for more grain or watching his family die from starvation. The account is fascinating and contains some twists and turns to it.
The thought strikes me that God could have just spoken to Jacob and told him to go to Egypt as when Jacob had the dream about the stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it and God speaking to him then, Genesis 28:10-22. However, that is not how God chose to do it.
God could have gotten Jacob to move to Egypt efficiently and effectively by just telling him to go without the famine and its issues. However, God is not always in the business of taking people from point A to point B in a way we might consider to be most efficient. He often accomplishes many things at once and he has his own ways about bringing things about.
I may think some approach to making something happen is faster, efficient and effective. God, in his transcendence is busy doing things light-years beyond whatever it is I may think of. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Isaiah 55:8-9.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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