Daily Devotions

Gen 45:1-5 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
KJV
There is nothing good about what Joseph’s brothers did to him, casting him into a pit, selling him to slave traders, lying about his death to their father. There is nothing good about the way he was treated by his master in Egypt after being so faithful to that man and then being cast into prison for those faithful actions. There is nothing good about being forgotten in the prison for to plus years. Yet we find all those years later when Joseph makes himself known to his brothers he states “God did send me before you to preserve life.” This reminds me of Romans 8:28. (Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.) There are living illustrations of this truth in the Bible and Joseph is one of them. God used the evil actions of others that were aimed at Joseph for His ultimate purpose and those actions ended working for good. God was not happy with the actions of Joseph’s brothers, but God needed Joseph in Egypt to preserve life and God used those circumstances for good in preserving the nation of Israel. Don’t read Romans 8:28 and separate it from life as so many do. They are more than just words of comfort on a page, they are played out in our lives many times over. We need to stop every now and then and look back at how that verse is played out in our lives.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2016 at 6:21 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.