"Trusting God's Plan" January 18 Readings: Genesis 42-45

Today's Reading - Genesis 42-45

Background

We encounter one of the truly entertaining stories in the Bible today - Joseph's interaction with the brothers who betrayed him. They'd assumed he was long dead and gone and had no idea that the powerful ruler they were encountering was the little brother they'd hated and sold into slavery. Joseph knew, though, and he tricked them.

Was he justified in the tricks he played on them? He could have just revealed himself at the start and been reunited, but he chose to hide his identity, entrap them, hold little brother Benjamin hostage and put his brothers through an emotional wringer. By New Testament ethics it would hardly be considered Christlike behavior, but Joseph did not have the Beatitudes and the teachings of Christ to consider.

Why did he deceive them? The best explanation is that he was testing their hearts. They had sold him out to advance their own positions. Would they do the same with his little brother Benjamin? Or had they truly changed? He found out through his machinations that the brothers had grown into men of character who sacrificed themselves for their father and for Benjamin.

Whether his deceit was justified is for God to judge, but we can see that it served a purpose at least.

May I make one more observation here? We have seen it in Abraham's dealings with Ismael and Isaac. It was especially apparent as Isaac and Rebekah raised Esau and Jacob. Here, we see Jacob/Israel saying things about Benjamin that show that he is clearly the favorite son. Favoritism in parenting caused untold damage among the Patriarchs. So, also, did polygamy, but that is another discussion for another time. If you have children, see that you love them all and that you do not play favorites.

Devotional - Trusting God's Plan

If ever a brother had a reason for revenge, it was Joseph. And not only did he have just cause, but he now had the perfect opportunity. When his brothers had the power, they had thrown him into the pit, faked his death, and sold him into slavery. He'd spent 13 years of hard times - as a slave in Potiphar's house and as a prisoner in Pharoah's dungeon. He'd be sold, he'd been lied about, and he'd been forgotten by those he'd helped.

And all of this was his brothers' fault.

Now, there they stood bowing and scraping before the man they knew as Pharaoh's right-hand man, the man about whose real identity they had no clue. He could have snapped his fingers and they'd have been marched off to the dungeon or put to the sword. No one would have asked questions. They were at his mercy.

But Joseph had a different view. He realized that the actions of his brothers, though sinful, were part of God's plan to accomplish the great calling of God on his life. He was to rise up and be a ruler. The "sun, moon, and stars" would bow down to him. All of that came to pass at the end of the 13 years of suffering. God used the evil of his brothers' actions to accomplish the greatness of his purpose.

When he revealed himself to them, they were terrified, but Joseph said this to them.

And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Genesis 45:5-8

Joseph trusted God. He wasn't bitter or angry because he knew that the terrible things that happened to him were part of God's plan to grow him and use him. He didn't seek vengeance because he realized that God was in control. "God sent me here," he reasoned. That did not abrogate the guilt of the brothers, but Joseph saw the hand of God even in the hard things that happened.

We hold grudges. We get angry and hurt and we pout and seek revenge. That is because we do not understand what Joseph understood. The circumstances of our lives, even the hard ones, are part of God's plan to grow us and shape us so that he can use us. Joseph was only ready to be the man God wanted him to be because he endured the things God set in his path.

Father, help me not to whine and become bitter, but to accept the hard times and the hurts as part of your plan to grow and to become all you've meant for me to be. Thank you for your sovereignn power. Help me to trust you. 

Think and Pray

Do you trust God when things don't go your way?
Think back 13 years ago? What if nothing had gone right in your life for 13 years? Would you still trust God?
Remember that God elevated Joseph greatly, but only after he persevered in faith.

God builds the character we need, during those hard times, so that we can handle the work he is calling us to do.