Genesis 44-45 -- Reconciliation Followed Recognition of Sin

“Be sure your sin will find you out,” is what the Bible says, but my commentary says our modern society thinks that no longer applies – that there is no absolute truth, and no consequences as a result.  “For 22 years, Joseph’s brothers had followed that philosophy and carefully covered their sins.”

Joseph set a trap to bring them to admit their sin by hiding their money and his silver cup in their grain bags before sending them back toward Canaan.  Then he sent his servant to spring the trap.

Judah showed that his heart had changed by stepping up to offer himself as a substitute for Benjamin.  His words, “God has found out the iniquity of your servants … refers to their hidden sins, the way they had treated Joseph and their father years before,” my commentary said.

When Joseph cleared the room of all but his brothers, and then said simply, “I am Joseph,” what must the brothers have been thinking!  They surely worried about the punishment that was sure to come.  Yet Joseph told them plainly how God had overruled their sin and worked it all out for good, to accomplish His divine purposes.

“The story of Joseph and his brothers encourages us to recognize the sovereignty of God in the affairs of life and to trust His promises no matter how dark the day may be,” my commentary said.

Joseph told them to take extra food and wagons and to hurry back to Canaan to bring his father and their entire family back to Egypt, where God would take care of them during the remaining five years of famine to come.  And for four centuries, God would use this move to form the new nation of Israel and then move them back to the Promised Land.

Father, thank You for this great picture of reconciliation, especially the part of seeing changed hearts and lives as a result of Your personal involvement in lives.  Please do the same in our family.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 43 -- Just When It Seems Things Are Going Right ...

Simeon had remained in custody in Egypt while Jacob’s family lived off the grain they’d brought back from Egypt.  He likely wondered if he’d been forgotten!  No one seemed willing to confront Jacob about it.  My commentary said, “Jacob’s blindness to his unhealthy relationship with Benjamin and his selfish nurturing of grief over Joseph, plus his hidden suspicions about his sons, all combined to make him a man difficult to deal with.”

But when the grain ran out and the famine showed no signs of letting up, they had to have a conversation about going back.  Judah finally offered himself as a guaranty for Benjamin’s safe return, knowing that without him they’d get no more grain.  My commentary said this indicates “Judah had experienced a change of heart since the sale of Joseph.”

One of my favorite “get it done” Bible verses appears here!  Judah finally told his dad, “If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have already made TWO trips!”

My commentary also noted how Jacob’s faith appears to have almost been extinguished, as seen in his statements:  “If it must be so … If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”  Where was his strong faith that God would provide for him?

The brothers returned to Egypt to find themselves being ushered straight to Joseph’s house.  Thinking they were about to be arrested and enslaved because of the money they’d found in their sacks on the way home, they asked Joseph’s chief servant to intercede.  He assured them he’d received payment for the grain, and hinted that their God had been responsible.

Simeon’s quick release probably surprised them, since the Egyptians would have had no way of verifying whether the eleventh man was Benjamin or a ringer, but Joseph knew.  Another clue that something was up came when they were seated at the banquet in birth order, which the Egyptians would have no way of knowing!

My commentary spoke of what was on the horizon:  “The brothers had not yet dealt with their sins.  It’s one things to be relieved and quite something else to be forgiven and reconciled.  They needed to ask Joseph’s forgiveness for the way they had abused him, and they owed their father an apology for deceiving him and grieving his heart … To think that we’re right with God because life is easier and problems less threatening is to court disaster.”  The story is getting so good that I hated to quit reading!

Father, thank You for helping me to see the problems that unresolved conflicts bring to a family.  Show me how to wisely deal with them the way Joseph did.  Place Your hand over my family and help us not to have secrets and not to hesitate to both ask for and give forgiveness to one another.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 42 - A Reason For The Waiting

There was a lot of maneuvering here, taking into custody, keeping Simeon and letting the remaining brothers return to Canaan – but my commentary said these were tests designed by God to bring them to repentance.  All of these events took place during the first two years of the seven-year famine.  It would get worse and they’d be back to buy more grain.

“When the ten brothers bowed before him, Joseph knew that the faithful God was beginning to fulfill the promises He had revealed in the two dreams,” my commentary said.  “He knew that all eleven brothers had to bow before him.  This meant that Benjamin would have to come with them on their next trip.  Furthermore, Joseph’s brothers had to be forced to face their sins and come to a place of honest confession, and that would take time.”  In verse 42, the ten men were finally beginning to sense that God was dealing with them because of their sins.

Something I hadn’t thought about before:  In a footnote, my commentary said the brothers could have brought back any Jewish man of the same age as Benjamin and the Egyptians wouldn’t know the difference.  This “test” was a hint that this Egyptian official would recognize Benjamin when he saw him!

Also, Reuben’s “I told you so!” statement “unwittingly informed Joseph of [Reuben’s] kindness in trying to rescue his helpless brother.”

When they returned to Jacob without Simeon and told him Benjamin would have to return with them, Jacob’s statement “made the other sons feel they were second-class members of the family.  Benjamin must be protected even if the whole family starved!  A crisis doesn’t make a man; it shows what a man is made of.  Jacob was revealing his true affections…” my commentary said.

Father, You show me here the importance of not hurrying to reconciliation, but instead letting events cause hearts to change and regret to surface.  Help me to be patient as You work on hearts, even though my own heart wants things fixed right away.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 41 -- Watching God At Work

Joseph had patiently waited on God and had lived an exemplary life in Egypt and now God was ready to act.  He gave Pharaoh two dreams, stifled any ability of Pharaoh’s wise men to interpret them, reminded the cupbearer about Joseph, and led Pharaoh to call for this 30-year-old Hebrew prisoner.  He then enabled Joseph to know the meaning of the dreams, and Joseph was able to show Pharaoh how important this divine appointment really was.  “God had shown the ruler of Egypt what He planned to do for the next 14 years, and Pharaoh was conscious of this fact.  Now that he knew God’s plan, Pharaoh was obligated to do what God wanted him to do.”  That is something I have discovered about what God has shared with me over especially the last 13 years.

God then moved Pharaoh to choose Joseph to lead and empowered Joseph to carry out a plan to save the lives of many people during the famine.  He was also given an Egyptian wife, who bore him two sons, and in naming the first one, “He was enabled by God’s grace to wipe out the pains and bad memories of the past and make a new beginning,” my commentary said.  He knew by this time that events would bring his family to Egypt and he’d have to confront his brothers.  “He wanted his own heart to be clean and right before God so that he could be a blessing to them just as he’d been a blessing wherever God had placed him.”  In naming his second son, he used a term meaning “fruitful”.  My commentary concluded, “It’s a wonderful thing when we can come through times of trial with the kind of attitude Joseph had, burying past hurts and rejoicing in present blessings, being forgetful and fruitful at the same time.”

Father, thank You for Your perfect timing again.  Help me to be forgetful and fruitful – to be a blessing wherever I am.  Let others see You at work in my life, despite hardships.  Allow me to be a channel for You to bless others.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 40 -- Time To Interpret & Time To Wait

Joseph had gained favor with the jailer due to his trustworthiness and character, but also because God was in charge and was setting up things in His sovereignty.  When Joseph noticed concern on the faces of the two officers of the king imprisoned with him, my commentary said it showed that he was a caring and discerning man.  Although he was falsely accused and imprisoned, he didn’t let his situation dictate his reaction.

He’d interpreted his own dreams but never someone else’s, according to the Genesis record.  Now he finds that God has provided him the means to understand dreams.  His statement giving God the glory for the interpretations shows he was a humble man, my commentary added.

I had not considered what my commentary said next:  that Joseph’s request to the king’s butler to speak to the king on his behalf once he was restored to his office amounted to Joseph “putting his trust in what a man could do instead of depending on what God could do.  He was getting impatient instead of waiting for God’s time.”  I’d just considered that Joseph was availing himself of what God had placed before him, and that God was taking care of the timing by having the butler “conveniently forget” Joseph’s request until the time was right.  In fact, two years would pass before God was ready to act.

Father, Your timing is always spot-on, and You’ve amazed me over the years by how You so incredibly make things happen at just the right time!  Thank You for teaching me to wait on You.  Father, You know what I wait for now.  Please encourage me until that time and help me not to worry, but to have faith in You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 39 -- Character When It Counts

In my commentary, I’d read yesterday about the contrast between what Judah did with his daughter-in-law versus what Joseph didn’t do with his boss’ wife.  The difference between these two brothers was striking.  “Joseph refused to compromise himself with Potiphar’s wife, but Judah casually slept with a strange woman he thought was a prostitute.”  Joseph’s part of that contrast took place in this chapter.  What a difference!

I’ve often heard it said that character is what a man would do if he knew no one else would ever find out, and Joseph’s character shined out here.  While many would likely sulk and barely perform their assigned tasks if they found themselves in similar circumstances, Joseph made a hand.  He is “a good example of a believer who trusted God and made the best of his difficult circumstances … Joseph would rather have been at home, but he made the best of his circumstances in Egypt, and God blessed him … God took note of Joseph’s character, and unknown to Joseph, God planned to fulfill the dreams He had sent him … Had he stayed home with his pampering father, Joseph might not have developed the kind of character that comes from hard work and obeying orders.  God’s method for building us is to give us a job to do and people to obey.  He tests us as servants before He promotes us to be rulers.  Before He allows us to exercise authority, we have to be under authority and learn to obey.”

Had Joseph given in to Potiphar’s wife, he might have enjoyed moments of pleasure, but his sin might have disqualified him from the plan God had for him.  The dreams God had given him helped keep Joseph on the right path.

“God permitted Joseph to be treated unjustly and put in prison to help build his character and prepare him for the tasks that lay ahead.  The prison would be a school where Joseph would learn to wait on the Lord … He would learn that God’s delays are not God’s denials.”

Father, You’ve shown me through the adoptions of my sons that You are faithful and that I need only wait on You to do everything in Your timing.  You know the struggles I face right now, and I can see from what I read today that this too may be a character-building time.  Help me to wait on You and to trust You.  Thank You for being faithful.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Genesis 38 -- God's Sovereignty & Grace Despite Our Sin

This does seem like an unsavory chapter plopped in the middle of the story of Joseph, and my commentary did a super job of explaining why it was included.

First, the royal line of the Messiah starts with Judah, so anything affecting it is important.  One of the babies produced by this episode (Perez) was an ancestor of King David and therefore of Christ.

Secondly, “it shows how dangerous it was for God’s people to be in the land of the Canaanites.  There was always the temptation to live like your neighbors instead of like the people of God.

Also, the first thing catching my attention was that Judah left his brothers, and became friends with a Canaanite man.  He’d stepped outside the covenant community, and he also chose his own wife, not from among that community, but outside of it.  There is a level of accountability that we feel inside that community, and outside of it, we feel a constant temptation to sin.

More than anything, we see God’s grace and sovereignty.  Many times my commentary has reminded me that God will not allow His children to sin successfully.  And here, despite Judah marrying a Canaanite, having three sons, losing one because of sin and a second because he willfully refused his duty, then losing his wife and casually sleeping with a woman he thought was a prostitute, God used them to accomplish His purposes.  “This doesn’t mean that God approved of their sins, because the sins were ultimately revealed and judged.  But it does mean that God can take the weak things of this world and accomplish His purposes,” my commentary said.

Father, I likely won’t know this side of heaven how many times You’ve intervened in my own life with Your sovereignty and Your grace to overrule my own sin to accomplish Your purposes through me, but I’m so glad You have, for You know better than me, period.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford