A REMEDY FOR RELUCTANT FAITH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy us a little more food."

But Judah said to him, "The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.'"

Israel asked, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?"

They replied, "The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. 'Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"

Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice."

Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

Genesis 43:1-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Genesis, chapter 43 begins, the seven year famine that had struck Egypt and surrounding countries, including Canaan, was still in progress and as we see in the opening fifteen verses, the grain that Jacob’s sons had brought back after trip to Egypt was running out. This prompted Jacob to order his sons to "go back (to Egypt) and buy us a little more food."

In response to his father’s demands, we read where Judah restates the edict issued by the leader they had encountered in Egypt, the leader who was none other than his lost son Joseph. This prompted Jacob (we find the scriptures also using his other God-given name Israel) to ask all of his sons:

"Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?"

This remark show us that Jacob is still fighting the inevitable for he knows that he’ll have to send Benjamin away in order to get food for his family and secure the release of Simeon, but he lacks the faith to trust God fully to watch over and protect his youngest son in the process. As we looked at in yesterday’s message, it was a situation rife with risk, one that Jacob was going to have to entrust to the Lord.

Well, in reply to their father’s question, the sons explain that they were interrogated by the man they referred to as "the lord of the land" in chapter 42 and finish their defense by saying:

"How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"

All this back and forth on the matter caused at least one of the brothers to become frustrated at his father’s stubborn refusal to let Benjamin leave with them. For we see Judah speaking up and guaranteeing Benjamin’s safety, saying:

“Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”

Judah’s point was that the grain they had brought back from the first trip was gone and people would begin starving to death if more grain wasn’t acquired. There was simply no more time to delay over the matter of Benjamin and so Judah makes himself completely responsible for Benjamin’s safety.

Now, what’s interesting about Judah’s remarks is that he also fails to mention the one key point that would have helped his father more than anything else. For we see where he, like his father prior, failed to go to the Lord in regard to the problem at hand. In other words, he never said, "You need to trust that God will be with us father and believe He will not allow any harm to come to us." He could also have suggested that they all pray and ask for God’s plan to be revealed.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and so we find that everyone, father and sons, leaning on their own understanding instead of turning to the Lord.

Well, after Judah makes his bold statement, Jacob replies with the following:

"If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and go back to the man at once."

Here we see Jacob realizing that there is no other way forward than to send Benjamin with the other nine sons to Egypt but note that he still lacks the faith in God to trust in His will to be done. Instead, Jacob sends his sons off with gifts for the Egyptian ruler to include doubling the amount of silver that would be used to pay for the grain. You’ll recall that the silver presented to Joseph on the first trip was returned to the sons by their brother as a gesture of goodwill but not knowing this, they vowed to return the silver so to not be accused of being thieves. And so the double portion of silver was intended to ensure they weren't charged with stealing, adding to the earlier accusation that they were spies.

So Jacob sends his sons off saying:

"And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

It’s here that we finally find Jacob calling on God to grant them mercy, fully understanding that things were out of his hands and there was a possibility that he may end up being more bereaved than he already was. In openly showing that he feared the worst, we see just how reluctant the faith of Jacob really was.

And this leads us to some questions grounded in self reflection:

For how often do we, like Jacob, show a reluctant faith?

Do we truly turn toward the Lord when we’re faced with difficult situations, trusting that He will guide us through in accordance with His will and plan for us?

Or do we lean on our own understanding and allow our fears to control our decision making?

Friends, it’s critically important for us to remember that we serve a God who is all powerful, all mighty, all willing, all loving and all able to do anything and everything. It’s this one true God has a plan for all those who place their faith and trust in Him and the salvation He freely gives through His Son Jesus. All we need to do is simply trust Him and allow Him to make things happen in our lives according to His purposes.

Are you facing difficult circumstances today?

My prayer for you is that you will set aside any reluctant faith that might present itself and instead just turn to the Lord, fully laying down your matters at His feet and allowing His will to be done. For when you do, the scriptures promise that you’ll find a peace beyond human comprehension, a peace that dispels worry and anxiety and stress and fear (Philippians 4:6-7).

In whatever you might be going through, fully trust God and make today a day of liberation.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE ONLY PERFECT APPROACH TO RISK

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, "The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies. We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.'

"Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, 'This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.'"

As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”

Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”

But Jacob said, "My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow."

Genesis 42:28b-38

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After a brief break to celebrate Father’s Day, we head back to the story of Joseph and pick up after Joseph had sent his brothers back home to their father Jacob minus Simeon. You’ll recall that Joseph had demanded that the brothers come back to Egypt the youngest, Benjamin, to prove that they could be trusted after accusing them of being spies.

And so in Genesis, chapter 42, we read where the nine brothers (minus Simeon) returned to their father Jacob with not only the grain he sent them for but also a report of all that had transpired in Egypt. The scriptures tell is that they detailed their encounter with the "lord over the land" (Joseph himself) and his accusation that they were spies. They then broke down the demand from the Egyptian leader (Joseph), a demand that involved them returning to Egypt with Benjamin so to prove their trustworthiness. They then would be able to get Simeon back before returning home.

Now, to the brothers, the solution seemed rather simple. All they needed to do is go back to Egypt with Benjamin to show they were indeed honest, and then get Simeon back so they could come home. To them, the plan seemed easy enough but then a couple of complications arose.

First, as they emptied their sacks of grain, "there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver", the same sack of silver they used to pay for the grain in Egypt. The scriptures tell us that upon discovering this, the brothers and Jacob “were frightened."

Why?

Because they were afraid that they would now be accused of being thieves as well as spies, unbeknownst that Joseph had intentionally returned their money to them as a gesture of goodwill and grace.

Secondly, there was the reaction of Jacob. For we read where he was extremely upset over the news from Egypt.

We need to keep in mind that he thinks Joseph is dead and now Simeon is being held under the charge of spying, a charge he knows is punishable by death. Now, on top of all that, the nine sons who returned wanted to take Benjamin back to Egypt to get Simeon back. Unsurprisingly, Jacob’s mind immediately thought the worse as he said:

"I have already lost one son. I can’t bear to lose another and Simeon is already in custody. Do I lose him and Benjamin, the only other son I had with my beloved Rachel?"

In Jacob’s view, the entire scenario was too risky, indicated by what he says next:

"You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!"

Sensing the desperation and difficulty of the situation amidst the complicated feelings of his father, we read where Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, offered a proposal that had to seem as preposterous as the original, if not more. For Reuben tells Jacob that he would allow his two sons to be put to death if he failed to bring Benjamin back safely.

In response, we find where Jacob was unmoved, reasserting his stance with the following words:

"My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow."

And so things were at an impasse.

Benjamin remained in Canaan with his father while Simeon stayed incarcerated in an Egyptian prison.

Friends, this scripture passage today offers us an opportunity to look at a matter we all have to face at some time or another.

I’m talking about the matter of risk and any time risk is in play, we also find another associated principle enter in, the principle of acceptability because the two go hand-in-hand.

In essence, there are really only two approaches to acceptability as it applies to risk: the worldly approach and the Christian approach. Only one of the two will always help us to make the right decision every time when it comes to dealing with risk.

First, let’s look at the worldly approach.

When faced with risk, one assesses the matter either personally or in tandem with advice from external sources. With this approach, we think we or someone else knows best as we rely on our own or another’s understanding. In some circumstances, people even foolishly jump into risky situations without thinking or seeking proper consultation, often with disastrous results. And there are a number of times, when someone has been led down the wrong path after trusting in the advice of others who afterwards weren’t as knowledgeable or wise as they appeared to be.

The problem with the uncertainty that comes with the worldly approach is that the more times we err and suffer the consequences of improper risk taking, the more and more fearful and apprehensive we get when we have to make future risk decisions.

Now, let’s look at the Christian approach to risk acceptability and it’s really fundamental, much easier than the worldly one. For anytime a Christian is faced with a decision involving risk, they only need to turn toward Heaven and consult their Almighty God, the only perfect Advisor in existence, the One who will always lead us in the right way to go and guide us to making the right call every single time.

You see, while we might run the risk of getting varied opinions on what we should do when we ask people of the world, we can rest assured that we will have a consistently correct answer from the Father when we ask Him. After that, all a believer needs to do is respond in obedience.

Therein lays the simple formula for Christian risk assessment. We ask the Father in faith for His divine direction and then we respond to His guidance with total obedience. This means that if our Lord says, “Do this” than we do exactly what He says to do. Conversely, if He warns against doing something, then we had better not do it.

In the end translation, we need to remember that it’s His will that matter, not ours.

Going back to today’s scripture, we find Jacob weighing the risk of either accepting or rejecting his sons’ proposal, but while doing this, he did so based on his own feelings and emotions. His approach was worldly and he wanted his will to be done. That will was centered on his unwillingness to part with Benjamin after believing he had already lost Joseph, his first son born to his beloved Rachel who we know died after delivering Benjamin.

As we’re going to see, Jacob’s worldly approach to risk will have consequences as the grain brought from Egypt begins to run out, once again placing his people on the cusp of starvation. We can’t help but believe that things would have worked out better if Jacob had just gone to God with the matter from the start. For in doing this, we can be sure the Lord would have not only put him at ease but also provided the right plan with the assurance that things would turn out alright. All Jacob would need to do is trust in Him.

Brothers and sisters, our Lord is trying to teach us an important lesson through this account and the actions of Jacob. For when difficult decisions come our way, decisions that involve risk, we need to always turn to God first by praying over the matter at hand and allowing Him to determine our course of action. Then after receiving His guidance, we need to carry out His directions without deviation out of total faith and obedience, understanding that He will always lead us to where He wants us to be so His purposes are accomplished in accordance with His will.

We need to further know that when we do this, when we step out with complete trust in God, we will often be taken outside of our comfort zone. In those times, we shouldn’t be afraid because we need to remember that He is always with us and for us through every journey He calls us to. In other words, He will bring us through whatever He call us to.

Life is full of risks. That is certain but what’s equally certain is that we can always turn to a Lord who always helps us make the right choice when those times comes.

Today and every day, let us give thanks to our God, praising Him for His wisdom, goodness, and care for us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

FATHER'S DAY, EVERY DAY

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Well, Father’s Day is upon us once again, a day that causes me to give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the honor to be a father to two wonderful girls. It also provides the opportunity to give thanks for my father who passed away in 2011 and there are certainly a lot of memories from our many years together.

Many of those memories are connected to baseball and the Pittsburgh Pirates, our home team in the small western Pennsylvania town I grew up in. I believe it was in 2007 when my wife Grace and I visited my parents and we decided to make the one and a half hour drive to the southwest and watch a game. I did the driving and as we traveled in the car, my father sitting in the passenger side seat, I couldn’t help but reminisce about growing up in my younger days when he would drive me to games, first at Forbes Field and then to Three Rivers Stadium.

Of course, early on I was only learning the game and it was always so great to watch and listen to Dad not only teach me the basic intricacies of the game but also share the memories he had about going to games when he was my age.

Outside of sports, I also cherish these other memories of my father:

- I cherish him for teaching me the importance of hard work, always giving an honest day’s labor for an honest day’s pay.

- I cherish him for never hesitating to correct me when I needed it, especially if I would become disrespectful to either him or my mother.

- I cherish him for bending over backwards to help anyone in need. Indeed, he was a father who was a cheerful giver and I learned to be likewise through his example.

- Finally, I cherish him for never ceasing to love and support me, especially after I had been serving the country for so many years in the United States Navy. I’ll never forget about how he would talk highly of me and my service to anyone who would listen and I can only pray that my own daughters feel that I love and support them as well as he did me. .

Indeed, I was so very blessed to first have had a great dad and then become a dad myself and in the end translation, we both gained the chance through the divine Father of us both, our Father in Heaven. For ultimately, it was because of His fatherhood that we could know how to properly care for the children He entrusted to our care.

Today and every day, we need to all realize and profess that God is the Father of us all and in Him, we have the best dad ever. As Christian believers, the scriptures make it clear that we are His children and thus no believer is ever left fatherless.

I write these words today fully understanding that not everyone has a great testimony to share about their worldly father and it’s a clear and undeniable fact that many dads have shirked the responsibility placed upon them by the Lord. This makes it all the more important to place one’s faith in Jesus as Savior and be counted as a true child of the God Most High, the Heavenly Father who has promised to never leave or forsake any of His children, the Heavenly Father who never ceases to love, care for, and provide for His beloved.

Friends, let us see how every day is Father’s Day and may we echo the praises found in the scriptures regarding this truth, praises found in 1 John where we read this in the first verse of the third chapter:

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

Amen. 

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE BEAUTY OF GRACE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.

Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.

At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. "My silver has been returned," he said to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack."

Genesis 42:24b-28a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After a three day imprisonment, one where his brothers had the chance to do some real soul searching, Joseph released them. We read where they decided to leave Simeon behind after Joseph demanded that they return home and then return with their youngest brother, Benjamin, to prove they were telling the truth about not being spies and having a younger brother. We will see that Joseph really wanted to see his only true brother by blood, both he and Benjamin born from the same mother, Rachel.

The scriptures tell us that as his brothers were about to load up and leave Egypt, Joseph does something wonderful for them. He refunds the money they paid for the grain and makes sure they have the provisions needed to return to Canaan and through his actions, he teaches us an important life lesson about forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

Now, you’ll recall that when Joseph’s brothers sold him off into slavery, they not only took away his dignity, but they also took away the thing he valued most: the special coat of many colors made for him by his father, Jacob. Fast forward to our passage for today and we find Joseph with a ripe opportunity to do unto his brothers as they had done to him but he doesn’t. Instead, he chooses to bless them and make sure they would be all right as they returned home to Jacob and his brother Benjamin who he missed dearly. You’ll remember that all this happened after Joseph listened to his brothers reveal their remorseful, troubled spirits while reflecting on the sins they had committed against him.

And with that, Joseph sent the brothers off and when they “they stopped for the night:, we read where “one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey” and discovered that “his silver” was “in the mouth of his sack”, a discovery that he shared with his brothers.  

As we read this today, I wonder how many of us have been done wrong in life by someone, left betrayed, abandoned, alone, and feeling unloved in the process. I am also left to think about how we may have responded in the aftermath of such an act, especially if the person who harmed us later displayed a spirit of regret for what they had done.

Did we forgive and show mercy as Joseph did?

It’s a question we need to consider and if we failed to do so, or are failing to do so right now, then it’s time to think about making things right.

Need some motivation?

If so, then think about how many times you have betrayed the Lord with your behavior.

How many times have you sinned against Him?

Maybe that’s a question we don’t want to answer, right?

And yet, we must.

For by merit of me writing this and you reading it, we are living testimonies to the amazing forgiveness that God shows on a regular basis, a forgiveness we don’t deserve, a forgiveness that we’ll never understand. It’s a forgiveness that led to Him offering up His only Son Jesus because He didn’t want us to perish and the scriptures tell us that He did it all out of love (John 3:16). And then His Son, falsely accused and brutally beaten and dying through crucifixion, looks down on those who assaulted him physically and verbally, and asks His Father to forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing (Luke 23:34).

Friends, as Christian believers, we can learn a lot from Joseph’s attitude toward his brothers but we learn even more through the God who made us and His Son through which we have salvation. Through them, forgiveness isn’t optional but rather mandated. And yes, while our hearts can be broken by others, we serve a Lord who mends up the brokenhearted (Psalm 147:3), healing us from the inside out so we can then extend His measure of love, pardon, and mercy to others on the outside.

And when we do this, we extend God’s grace to others, a grace that is truly amazing and beautiful, both when we receive it and give it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked.

"From the land of Canaan," they replied, "to buy food."

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected."

"No, my lord," they answered. "Your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies."

"No!" he said to them. "You have come to see where our land is unprotected."

But they replied, "Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more."

Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" And he put them all in custody for three days.

On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die."

This they proceeded to do. They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us." Reuben replied, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood."

They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. He turned away from them and began to weep.

Genesis 42:6-24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Just as God had promised, a great famine came over Egypt and all its surrounding nations to include Canaan. We know Canaan was impacted because in yesterday’s message from the opening verses of Genesis, chapter 24, we saw where Jacob dispatched ten of the eleven sons at his disposal to go to Egypt and purchase grain. Only Benjamin, the youngest of the sons, was left behind.

As we move to today’s passage and its associated message, we find Joseph’s brothers arriving in Egypt and being brought before him, the “governor of the land” who “sold grain to all its people." The scriptures tell us that as they "bowed down” with “their faces to the ground", Joseph realized that while he recognized them, they didn’t know who he was and so he "pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them" while he “remembered his dreams about them."

What were those “dreams” mentioned here?

Well, you may recall that back in chapter 37 of this book, Joseph shared this with his brothers:

"Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

This prompted his brother to respond in anger, saying:

"Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?"

After this, we read where they “hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." (Vv.6-8)

Now, fast forward to this moment in chapter 42 where we find Joseph’s brothers indeed bowing before him out of respect for his positional authority over them, just as the dream had predicted.

The dream had actually come to be.

So how would Joseph respond to these brothers who had mistreated him so badly?

We read where he spoke to them harshly, accusing them of being spies. In doing so, we can see how Joseph was working to gauge the mindset of his brothers who he had been separated from for so long.

First, we can see how he was testing their attitude.

How would they respond while being accused and judged?

Well, it’s obvious right away that the brothers are frightened about the charge for spying was a crime punishable by death. And so we find them vehemently denying the accusation, repeating over and over that they had just come to get grain because of the famine that had struck their homeland of Canaan.

Despite their pleas of innocence, we see where Joseph persisted in accusing them and with every charge of spying, we sense the brothers getting ever more fearful of what might happen to them. Within this circumstance, they were being severely humbled and I’m sure had never thought they would end up like this as Joseph’s dream became a staunch reality.

I believe Joseph was also interested in what the brothers had to say about him but he had to go about it in a rather sly fashion so he wouldn’t reveal his identity. We read where his persistent spy claims led to the brothers defending themselves through confessing the family they were a part of. They tell Joseph they were from Canaan and were ten of twelve brothers, adding that "the youngest is now with our father, and one is no more". We know the youngest was Benjamin who had remained behind with Jacob while the one that was "no more" referred to Joseph who now knew that they believed he was now dead.  

With this, we read where Joseph presses them even harder, this time demanding that they prove their truthfulness. He proposes a test, saying:

"As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

And with that, he put them all in custody for three days. In their minds, they thought their imprisonment was because the Egyptian governor (aka Joseph) had failed to believe that they weren’t spies. In actuality, the ten brothers were actually just getting a taste of their own medicine. For just as they failed to believe Joseph after he told them his dream foretelling future events, now they were finding out how it feels to not be believed despite their best efforts to refute the spying accusations. And just as Joseph found himself imprisoned after being sold into slavery by his brothers, now his brothers are incarcerated so to get a glimpse of what they caused their brother to have to endure while in slavery.

As we see in the scriptures, the time in jail was a time of self reflection for the ten brothers as we see them doing a lot of soul searching. Specifically, we see them start to confess their wrongs, associating their current misfortune to their mistreatment of Joseph.

“Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us."

We also find Reuben, the oldest of them, chiming in, saying:

"Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood."

Indeed the brothers were beginning to come to grips with the sins they committed and as they talked among themselves, we know that Joseph heard them and was touched by their words, words that were truly remorseful and drove him to weep. We have to know there was a wellspring of emotions inside of Joseph at this moment for after years of struggling with the way he was unloved and mistreated by his siblings, their words must have been ones that he prayed he would one day hear.

We’re not quite there yet but we’re going to see how the tears that fell from Joseph’s eyes began to form a river of reconciliation that would eventually lead to mercy and grace but not before his brothers would learn a major life lesson.

As we reflect on this message, a quick question:

Have you ever done something wrong to someone and then had that same wrong come back on you from someone else?

I think we all may have experienced how the Lord definitely has a way of giving us a taste of our own medicine and, most of the time, we don’t like the way it tastes even though it’s necessary to teach us, correct us, and refine us to be the people He wants us to be.

My prayer is that we’ll all embrace all of the Lord’s instruction, and even correction when needed, so we can turn from sin and toward the righteousness He desires for us to have. For friends, this is His will for us and we need to carry it out or else He will have to give us stronger doses of our own medicine, bringing the sins we commit toward others back on us, until we respond in obedience. Let’s save ourselves a lot of trouble and not put Him to the test.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

GOD'S GREATER PLAN

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.

When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you."

When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world.

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die."

Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

Genesis 41:53-57, 42:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we reach the end of Genesis, chapter 41, God’s plan as given through Joseph as he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream is well in progress. The scriptures tell us that the seven years of abundance had ended and the seven years of famine began, just as God had promised.

Well, as the people of Egypt began to feel the impact of the famine, they "cried to Pharaoh for food" and he directed them to, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you." So in their time of great need, we find the mighty nation of Egypt finding help through Joseph’s execution and management of God’s plan to save a fifth of the harvest during each year of abundance to help cover the needs during the famine. This surplus was now distributed as "Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians."

It’s important for us to note that although God’s initial plan was viewed as only aiding the Egyptians, He had more far reaching purposes in mind. For we read where all countries started to come to Egypt because the famine was severe everywhere, including Canaan where Joseph’s father and brothers lived. Chapter 42 begins with Jacob sending his sons to Egypt to buy grain so they could have food to eat.

Now we need to remember that Jacob believes Joseph is dead and this is why he is so afraid to send Benjamin with his other ten sons. For after already losing his favored son (Joseph) before, Jacob is concerned that something might happen to his youngest, Benjamin, and so he chooses to keep him at home.

Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers go onto Egypt with no idea of what happened to their brother after they sold him off to slavery and frankly, we don’t get any indication that they even care. So they head to purchase grain as ordered by their father with no thought of possibly reuniting with Joseph and discovering that the very dreams they despised him over would come true.

Ultimately, all of this was just a part of God’s greater plan as the famine was just a way to a means, the circumstance serving as a backdrop for what will be a beautiful reunion grounded in amazing reconciliation.

To further illuminate how God has a greater plan, I will share with you a true story, one that is very close to me. The names are withheld because they aren’t as important as the lesson.

This story begins with a white man falling deeply in love with a black woman. After they had begin dating, he felt so excited about finding this love in his life that he called his parents to tell them about it and everything appeared to be fine until he tells them that his new girlfriend was black.

A very uncomfortable silence fell on the other end of the phone line, a silence and isolation that wouldn’t end there. For the man’s father would not speak to his son for the next year and a half. As for the mother, she changed her stance a month after the news had been broken and would go on to support the relationship to include attending the wedding 9 months later, a wedding that the father refused to attend. After getting married, the son and his new wife would make the eight hour drive from Virginia to Pennsylvania to visit several times over the course of the next eighteen months and while their mother welcomed them, their father would always conveniently be absent.

All this upset the son greatly, leading him to be angry at his father and unsure how to handle the matter. So he turned to the Lord in prayer and read the scriptures which led him to only one proper conclusion.

He needed to forgive his father and respond to him with love.

And so he did. He sent cards to his dad and gifts on his birthday and other holidays, although he never received anything in return. During this time, his wife never said anything negative about the father-in-law she had never met, despite the way he had treated her. This attitude amazed her husband and caused him to love her all the more for truly, she was a woman of the Lord.

Well, after the year and a half had passed, the son and his wife were invited to come home for what was being promoted as a family reunion. Before attending, the son asked about how his father would approach the event and was told by his sister that he (the father) wanted to reconcile. So the son and his wife drove north, returning to his hometown and to his boyhood home where his father was waiting to reunite with his son and finally meet his new daughter-in-law.

The son went into the house first and as he entered his home, there sat his father, on the couch where he always sat with tears rolling down his face. Sobbing, he told the son he was sorry and in turn, the son embraced his crying father and said, "It’s okay Dad. I love you and forgive you."

The father didn’t understand. He asked how he could be loved or forgiven after the way he had acted and the son shared that if God could forgive him (the son) for the sinner that he was, then he could forgive anyone.

These words would enter the father’s heart and transform him forever.

Next, the father’s new daughter-in-law entered and as he saw her for the first time, he again broke down in tears, inconsolable within the shame he felt. Again, he was embraced by her and told that he was loved and forgiven. From that day forward until he passed away, the father would love her like she was one of his own.

So as you can see, this true story had a happy ending, one that I believe would inspire and encourage anyone who hears it. But you see God had something even better to produce from this. He had an even greater plan. For you see, the father, my father, started to attend church every week after his experience of what real forgiveness looked like and turned his life over to Jesus. On the surface, one would think that God’s plan was about reconciling my wife and I to him but what was really happening was that the Lord was working to reconcile my father to Himself. In the end translation, my wife and I were just a part of God’s greater plan.

Soon, we’re going to see how all the elements of the Joseph story piece together for another of God’s greater plans but for today, let’s all commit ourselves to never underestimate what God might be doing in, around, and through us, particularly as we are interacting with others. For when it’s all said and done with, He might just be using any of us in a very special way to carry out His plan and His plans are always well beyond anything we can comprehend.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

EXCLAMATIONS OF PRAISE

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt." Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife.

And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt.

During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.

Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering."

Genesis 41:41-52

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Joseph emerged from Pharaoh’s prison, successfully interpreted the Egyptian ruler’s dream, and was then appointed second in command of a mighty nation. Verses 41 through 45 in our passage today describe all that Joseph gained during the initial stages of his ascendancy. The abundance predicted for Egypt was in full swing and so was the abundance of blessings heaped on Joseph, God’s special servant. Pharaoh’s presentation of the signet ring, robes of fine linen, gold chain, and chariot were given to make sure everyone knew that Joseph now held special and distinct authority over all of Egypt.

Now, any ordinary man may have allowed all this power to go to his head but Joseph was no ordinary man for we see where he remained firmly grounded in God and his faith, even in the midst of such extravagance. We can be confident in feeling this way because of his actions after each of his two sons were born. For the scripture tells us that after Pharaoh gave Joseph the gift of a wife, Asenath, their marriage produced two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim, and it is from the names Joseph gives each of them that we catch a glimpse of his gratitude and thanksgiving toward God.

In other words, the names of his sons actually are personal exclamations of praise.

Let’s first look at Manasseh. The scriptures tell us that Joseph selects the name “because God” had made him “forget all” his “trouble and all” his “father's household." Indeed, Joseph had come a long way from facing the hatred and jealousy of his brothers, his near death experience at the cisterns, his slavery experience, the false accusations of Potiphar’s wife, and then his lengthy prison stay. He had persevered through many trials and probably was at a point somewhere along the line where he wondered if his troubles would ever cease. But over and over again, God was with him, delivering him from every hardship and eventually from prison to power. Now after assigning such a special name, his son, Manasseh, would always remind him of that.

Well, after Manasseh’s birth, we read where Ephraim was born and we’re told Joseph gave him that name "because God has made” him “fruitful in the land of” his “suffering." We know that while things seemed to get better for Joseph when he was first purchased by Potiphar, they quickly went downhill due after his master’s wife lied and wrongly accused him of sexual assault. It led to Potiphar imprisoning Joseph where he would languish before God delivered him, elevating him to be Egypt’s second in command. Because of this, all of Joseph’s afflictions were in his past and his son, Ephraim, would be the symbol that better times had come, times of blessing and prosperity which were provided by a faithful, loving God.

Through Joseph’s actions, we are reminded of how we should respond to God when He delivers us from our own trials and tribulations in life. For the only proper way for us to show the Lord our appreciation is through our own exclamations of praise.

Joseph used the naming of his sons as one way to express his thanks.

How will we express ours?

Will it be through a testimony? A praise report during a prayer gathering? Maybe a social medial post?

No matter how we choose to let the Lord know we are grateful, one thing is for sure. We need to do it daily, not only because the Lord has a way of delivering us from hardship and blessing us in a way that helps us move on ahead but also because He makes us fruitful in the land of our suffering, the land where we live. There is no better example of this than the matter of salvation and how God so loved us that He willingly chose to surrender and sacrifice His one and only Son, Jesus, so that no one who would believe in Him would perish from their sin but rather gain the promise and assurance of eternal life (John 3:16).

Friends, we can begin there every day, exclaiming our praise for the gift of Heaven through Christ Jesus for indeed, our God is good, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), and His steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 136:1).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

LIVING IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.”

"In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads sprouted—withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me."

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine."

“It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon."

“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine."

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

Genesis 41:17-40

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the first 16 verses of Genesis, chapter 41, we find Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, having two troubling dreams that none of his magicians or visionaries could interpret. To the rescue was Pharaoh’s cupbearer who remembered how a man correctly interpreted his dream while in prison two years earlier. And so Pharaoh summons the man, Joseph, from prison and asks him to interpret his dream to which he is told that God would give him the answer he desired. You’ll recall that Joseph wanted Egypt’s powerful ruler to know that he wouldn’t accept any of the credit for the interpretation.

And so accepting this proposal from Joseph, Pharaoh proceeds to tell Joseph all about what he experienced in his dreams and while Egypt’s leader believed the dreams were distinct, we find Joseph letting him know that they were really "one and the same", adding:

"God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do."

Friends, this is an awesome testimony given by Joseph to Pharaoh for the only true God, the God who was superior to any false god that the Egyptians worshiped was about to do everything that Joseph was about to say next.

Needless to say, he had the ruler’s attention.

And so Joseph goes on to interpret the dreams, telling Pharaoh that there would be seven years of abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of famine. Given this, the very survival of Egypt would rely on Pharaoh doing just as God commanded, stockpiling one fifth of the grain in every year of abundance to ensure there would be food during the famine years.

This effort would need strict oversight and we read where Joseph tells Pharaoh to "look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt." He was to also "appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance." After this, the scriptures tell us that Egypt’s leader has no questions on what needs to be done as they found no reason to doubt what God had said through Joseph. The "plan seemed good to Pharaoh and his officials."

So with the plan accepted, the only thing left was the matter of "appointing a discerning, wise man" to take "charge of the land of Egypt” and to Pharaoh, the selection seemed like a no-brainer. For we find him proclaiming the following:

"Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

And with no objection raised by anyone, we find Pharaoh elevate Joseph, who had just emerged from prison, to a place of power where he would take charge of the palace with all people ordered to submit to his orders.

Indeed, only Pharaoh himself would be greater than Joseph and this incredible conclusion to this chapter offers us several awesome points to ponder:

1. God showed mercy toward Egypt.

Although we’ll find later that Egypt will fall from God’s favor when a new leader takes the reins, here we see that God doesn’t wish for the Egyptians to perish. His instructions to Pharaoh, if carried out as directed, would ensure the Egyptian people would not die during the famine. Those directions would also pave the way for Joseph to be reunited with his family as we will see later but for now, God’s saving actions toward a polytheistic nation are an early Old Testament revelation of His amazing grace.

2. Pharaoh’s accepted both the dream interpretation and the suggested plan of action.

We need to keep in mind that Pharaoh could have rejected the revelation from God regarding his dreams but he didn’t. And by accepting and not rejecting all that God said through Joseph, Pharaoh was acknowledging two important things:

First, that the plan was from indeed from God, and second, that God would do what He said He would do.

This is an incredible stance from someone who wasn’t a God follower to begin with and one we shouldn’t take from granted as we read this story.

3. God delivers those who remain faithful to Him.

Fresh out of the prison dungeon, God led Joseph to be designated as the most discerning, wise man in Egypt with all the people commanded to submit to him. It was nothing short of an improbable elevation to power but it reminds us that with God nothing is ever impossible.

Before I close, there is one other important point to consider from this scripture. For in the account, we find Joseph using the gift of dream interpretation given to him by God so to carry out his Lord’s will. As a result, he won the confidence of an ungodly Egyptian ruler and experienced the blessing of deliverance.

This applies to us because our God has given us all gifts as He did Joseph and expects us to use those gifts to carry out His purposes so that He ultimately will be glorified and honored. And when we consider that our chief calling as Christians is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), then we can see where we find communion with Joseph who God used to change the heart of the ungodly and turn them toward Him.

My hope and prayer is that we’ll do just that, and in the process, find others speaking of us as Pharaoh did of Joseph when he declared:

“Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.