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 45:4-9,
"Then 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! 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. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.'"
We read in Genesis how God manipulated events so that Joseph would be in a position to move his family from Canaan down to Egypt.
Through resentment generated among his brothers against him, Joseph was sold to slave traders that took him down to Egypt where he eventually found himself as second in all of Egypt. Various dreams and circumstances provided by God brought these events about and here Joseph makes it clear his brothers understand that God was behind all that happened to him.
Joseph told his brothers that it was to "save lives" that God had "sent" Joseph to Egypt. Some have misunderstood this to mean that God put Joseph in place to save all the people everywhere from a coming famine. That misses the point of the account entirely.
God caused the famine himself. He didn't need Joseph in place to undo what he was doing. Joseph told Pharaoh that God decided to cause the famine. The lives saved specifically because Joseph was in place (put there by God) were the lives of Jacob and the family. "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance."
This is the account of how God moved Abraham's descendants down to the womb of Egypt where they would grow into a large and thriving nation. The next chapter of this fascinating story will be how God moves the people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob out of Egypt and back into Canaan, the "promised land".
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.
"Then 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! 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. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.'"
We read in Genesis how God manipulated events so that Joseph would be in a position to move his family from Canaan down to Egypt.
Through resentment generated among his brothers against him, Joseph was sold to slave traders that took him down to Egypt where he eventually found himself as second in all of Egypt. Various dreams and circumstances provided by God brought these events about and here Joseph makes it clear his brothers understand that God was behind all that happened to him.
Joseph told his brothers that it was to "save lives" that God had "sent" Joseph to Egypt. Some have misunderstood this to mean that God put Joseph in place to save all the people everywhere from a coming famine. That misses the point of the account entirely.
God caused the famine himself. He didn't need Joseph in place to undo what he was doing. Joseph told Pharaoh that God decided to cause the famine. The lives saved specifically because Joseph was in place (put there by God) were the lives of Jacob and the family. "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance."
This is the account of how God moved Abraham's descendants down to the womb of Egypt where they would grow into a large and thriving nation. The next chapter of this fascinating story will be how God moves the people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob out of Egypt and back into Canaan, the "promised land".
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.
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