manipulation (Genesis 50:15-21)

How often do we try to manipulate our circumstance to try and turn what we fear to be a bad turn of events into a good turn of events?

Fearing the worst, that is exactly what Joseph's brothers did in the below text;

Genesis 50:15-21 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
¹⁸ His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ²¹ So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Maybe our circumstances are different, but how often do we try to manage and manipulate our circumstances instead of trusting the one who has our whole journey in plain sight?

We can learn so much from these bible stories because they are about real people who dealt with life in the same way we do. They are for our instruction and encouragement, both to learn from the mistakes of some and the triumphs of others.

What's God promising you and I (Genesis 46:1-5)

A great nation!!, are you kidding me, Abraham must have exclaimed and Isaac and Jacob must have thought the same. They must have wondered about God's promise to them. After all this great nation was not happening very fast, basically one son at a time, that is until Jacob's family when he had a whole bunch of kids. Do we really think they didn't question God; when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, when Esau and Jacob feuded, when Jacob's sons plotted......they all must of wondered how God could make a great nation through them with all of their shortcomings.

Genesis 46:1-4 (http://www.biblegateway.com)
New International Version (NIV)
Jacob Goes to Egypt

46 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

² And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
³ “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

God works through our shortcomings and he keeps his promises.

What's God promising you today, perhaps its not a great nation......are we sensitive enough to his leading and trusting in him enough to experience his promises in our lives?

God is always a step a head of us. (Genesis 45:4-11)

Are we willing to see through our challenging times and have faith that God has a plan and a purpose for us?

I am sure Joseph wondered many times about what God had planned for him. First off he likely wished he never would have shared his dreams with his brothers. God works through our poor decisions as he did through Josephs to mold him in to the great leader that he became. Trusting God and his end purpose is difficult when in the midst of misery. I suspect that trusting God was not easy for Joseph when his own brothers threw him in to a pit, when Potiphars's wife plotted against him or when he was stuck in jail.

In the following passage Joseph's dreams come full circle when he in actual fact rules over Egypt and his brothers. Imagine the dropped jaws of his brothers when he reveals his identity to them in their time of need. They must have been shaking in their boots. Obviously Joseph was very forgiving and saw the bigger picture, God's purpose, that he worked through their shortcomings to put Joseph in a place of leadership to provide for his family.

Genesis 45:4-11 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ 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! ⁵ 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. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.^[a]
8 “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. ⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. ¹⁰ You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’


God is always a step a head of us.

How do you think he is working in your life for his purpose?

Our time isnt always his time (Genesis 40)

How many times in our life do we think we have a better plan than God does? How many times do we think our timing is better?

Way back in Joseph's time he seemed to have ideals about getting out of prison, who wouldn't if they were not guilty?

He was serving time for a crime he didn't commit and thought he had caught  a break.

Genesis 40:9-15 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
¹² “This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”

The cup bearer was released and still Joseph remained in prison, for what reason, what was God's plan?

Genesis 40:20-23 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— ²² but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Have you been in a major dry spell like Joseph with no prosperity in sight, no idea of God's purpose. Joseph waited years and years before he was ready to fulfil the purpose God revealed to him in dreams.

Waiting sucks and its hard not to cave into what we may see as an easier way, but only when we wait on God will we experience his perfect plan in his perfect time as Joseph did.

 

 

Wow, what deception (Genesis 27)

Oh my, the deception in Genisis 27. It's crazy.

This chapter is a story of a family with 2 sons, twins actually. The father had his favorite, the masculine hunter of a son and the mother had hers, which was the other son. That was just the start of their issues. Obviously the children were quick learners as the one son deceitfully bribed the birthright from his older brother for a pot of stew. Apparently one will give up a lot when hungry.The mother than put her conniving ways to use to ensure that her favourite received the blessing, which in those days was a big deal.

Check the story out by clicking on the link

Genesis 27

Do you see yourself in this story anywhere? Have you bribed someone, have you manipulated to get your way, do you treat a child of yours as a favourite?

There are many lessons in this story and I can certainly see my sinful nature in it.

Have you ever laughed at what God is telling you or asking of you? (Genesis 17:17)

Have you ever laughed at what God is telling you or asking of you?

Abraham and Sarah did just that. God promised them that they would have a son in their old age and through him a great nation would be born.

Genesis 17:17 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”

Perhaps our stories are different than Abraham and Sarah's. Perhaps what we are being asked to believe in faith or do in faith is different, but we are all at some point in our lives asked to believe or do something in faith.

My wife and I were not 100 and 90 respectfully when we had children and neither were we told a great nation would be born to us. We were however older and did get told that we would likely not have children. We understand the emotions and feelings that go along with feeling like you may not have a child. We even miscarried after being so happy we had conceived. It was a roller coaster experience for us, but one that led us to cry out to God looking for his direction for our lives. Should we adopt? Should we remain childless? He saw fit to provide us with 2 beautiful children of our own. I get the unbelief that Abraham and Sarah must have felt.

What's your story? What's God asking you to do? Is he asking you to believe in his provision, trust him through a health crisis, a way ward child experience, etc.? Are we prepared to follow him in faith or are we unbelieving and laughing at him as Abraham did?

He has a pretty good track record of fulfilling his promises.......a perfect score actually!!

How many of us have tried to build a tower to heaven (Genesis 11:1-9)

How many of us have tried to build a tower to heaven? Ya it may sound corny, but really when you stop and think of it, how many of us have tried to build a tower to heaven to earn merit with God rather than welcome our saviour into our hearts and homes by faith. I know in my own life I have been guilty of trying to build a tower, one good deed brick at a time, but God doesn't want that, he wants to be invited in to work change in us. He wants to come down and be present in our lives? There is nothing we can do aside from opening our hearts to him to enhance the communication signal, to be closer to him. He just wants us surrendered to him.

Genesis 11:1-9 (http://www.biblegateway.com)

New International Version (NIV)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward,^[a] they found a plain in Shinar^[b] and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel^[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.