INTERESTING FACTS : The average person can read the Bible through in about seventy hours reading time. Reading three chapters per day and five on Sundays, you can read your Bible through in one year. About fourteen chapters per day will take you through in three months.[1]

DAILY READING : [GENESIS 43 - 45]

TEXT : Gen 45:5- Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. Gen 45:7- And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Gen 45:8- So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

THEME : HOPE

Although Joseph was merciful to his brethren, we notice that he had some amusement at their expense. When his brothers first arrive, he accuses them of spying and puts them under watch, confining them for three days. He insists that Simeon must stay as the others go back to Jacob. Then he commands they bring Benjamin back with them, an order the brothers knew Jacob would resist. After this, he hides his silver cup in Benjamin's saddlebag, under the pretense he uses the cup to tell, or foretell, the future [divine]. Then, after a period, Joseph reveals himself to his brethren and weeps - for both sorrow and joy.

Often, we neglect in a story of one Bible character, the lives of the others around them. For instance, when Abraham offered Isaac on the altar of Mount Moriah, we never think how Isaac must have viewed the event. Remember, Isaac is the one who asks - "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" [Gen. 22:7]As we think about the sorrow of Abraham in obeying God's command to offer Isaac on the altar - the son of his long awaited promise, most never think about that command from Isaac's view. How must Isaac have felt, after his father tied him, placed him on the altar, and saw Abraham raise the knife ready to plunge it through his chest? What could Isaac been thinking? We do not know, but it is safe to say he could not have been enthusiastic that his own father would put God and His Word before his love for him. I believe common sense would suggest that conclusion. Keep in mind - the characters of the Bible are human, not mindless, unfeeling people who obeyed God without emotion and intellect. I am sure Isaac must have had questions and no small amount of anxiety, at least until Abraham finds the ram caught by the horns in the thicket.

When we think of Joseph and his hardships at the hands of his brothers and all that he suffered in Egypt, we forget about Jacob. He thinks Joseph is dead, and God does not tell him otherwise. For thirteen years, he lives in grief whenever he thinks about the day he received the news Joseph died. This begs the question - "Why God?" Why does God test His people so severely at times?? For His own purpose, a design not mentioned in Genesis, God allows Jacob to "believe" Joseph is dead, when he is not! This is a curious feature of the walk of faith for all of us. That is, God allows or ordains questions to linger in our heart, and permits sad, challenging, or wearisome events to occur that seem to have no rhyme or reason [i.e. to our minds]. In Jacob's case, God lets Jacob believe a lie [that is, his sons telling Jacob that Joseph was dead] and grieve for over a decade! For reasons of His own, God allows or ordains inexplicable trials and sorrows, only to relieve us finally if we trust Him. Yet, while we ponder and wait, we "see" nothing. The Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It also says that if hope is seen, it is not hope. For why will a man hope for what he has- Further, in the Book of Proverbs God writes - "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." [Pro. 13:12]

When Jacob heard Joseph was still alive he fainted in heart and did not believe the report. This is similar to the Church's surprise when they prayed for Peter while he was imprisoned. When God released him through an angel of the Lord, and came knocking on the door where they were praying, no one believed the report. How odd is our nature! We pray and hope, and when the answer arrives, we do not believe! Still, God's ways do bring us to our limits, and when what we hope for occurs, it brings life to our soul. Our weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Therefore, Jacob wanted to see his beloved son before his death, and he did.

TRUTH FOR TODAY : GOD IS IN TOMORROW - TODAY!

At seventeen, God told Joseph in dreams he would be a ruler in a foreign land that turned out to be Egypt. God told him he would rule over his brothers and sisters as well as his father and mother. Thirteen years of trials would pass before God carried out this feat. Once again, we see God at work in history, preserving the nation of Israel who carried the seed of the woman - Jesus the Christ and Savior of the world. What is strange about the methods of God in bringing His plan to pass, is how he allows evil to occur, all the while doing good according to His own will. This amazes us. Man would never write a Book the way God did. Still, God is working His perfect will through good and evil.

Joseph clearly understood God ordained him to be ruler in Egypt, and consoles his brethren with this fact. Knowing God allowed his brethren to treat him cruelly to the point of physical brutality and rejection, Joseph tells his brothers not to be angry with their selves or to grieve over their deeds. He tells them God's purpose was to preserve their posterity [i.e. their nation that would bring forth Jesus the Christ] and grant them a great deliverance. Then, he goes as far as to say God did this! This is a mystery, hard to grasp. God holds man responsible for his sin ["Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4 ]. Yet, He works His plan through the evil heart of Man, even using Man's evil to produce a good result. How great is our God! He is past finding out!

The sovereignty, dominion, and supremacy of God is a comfort and consolation in every age to every true believer in the Lord. He is at work and never at a loss for what to do - whether in preserving and protecting a nation that He will use to guard His Word and bring forth the Messiah, or in caring for the less momentous concerns of one person such as you and me. As God, He is both beyond time and inside time. He can hear the cry of many people all at once in their distress, or carefully listen to just one person praying. He can hear us from anywhere always, and can listen "forever," if we could speak without ending. He is God, and satisfactory for every need of anyone who calls on Him. Further, as an Omnipresent Being, He is in all places at all times. Darkness and light are the same to Him. He has no limits, borders, constraints, or restrictions. As the Eternal God, He is already in tomorrow, preparing a way for His people.

As our Shepherd, He is both with us at our side and in front of us, preparing the way so we will be safe, and secure. This is what he did for Joseph, and for the nation of Israel. All the time working through the sin of Man to complete His plan for those He saves. David, summed up this everlasting solace of ours in Psalm 23 when he wrote -

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

[Psalm 23:1-6]