SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-18-2008
My Worship Time Focus: A time of transition: Benjamin’s Protection
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Genesis 43:24-34
Message of the verses: “24 Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder.
25 So they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there. 26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and bowed to the ground before him. 27 Then he asked them about their welfare, and said, "Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" 28 They said, "Your servant our father is well; he is still alive." They bowed down in homage. 29 As he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" And he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son." 30 Joseph hurried out for he was deeply stirred over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out; and he controlled himself and said, "Serve the meal." 32 So they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is loathsome to the Egyptians. 33 Now they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. 34 He took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.”
I suppose that this whole situation
that these brothers found themselves in was like riding on a roller coaster,
for it seems that one minute their hopes of survival looked dim and then they
are invited to a dinner with the person who is second in command of the great
country of
Dr. Wiersbe writes that he thinks that the brothers were happy that Joseph was getting along with Benjamin so well, but I believe that this was a test that Joseph was giving to his other brothers by giving five times the food to Benjamin to see if they would become jealous over this treatment. If this were a test it seems that the brothers passed it for there is nothing written as to whether they became jealous.
Going back to the brothers not dealing with their sin issue, it seems that they did indeed have a false hope and therefore were not thinking about what they had done to Joseph so long ago very much at this time, but in the next chapter there sin will find them out.
Joseph is indeed a person who demonstrated the grace of God in his life, for he had all kinds of reason to be bitter, to be big headed, to hand out punishment to his brothers who actually deserved it, but he was filled with the grace of God and was doing things to bring honor and glory to God, by realizing that God had promised to take care of this family and turn them into a great nation and He was using Joseph to help bring this about so Joseph did not hold these bad feelings towards his brothers, yet he wanted them to confess and repent in order to get back into fellowship with both God and himself, for he knew that would help bring about greatness to this family.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that the one thing that I have learned from this portion of Scripture and from Dr. Wiersbe’s book is that I have to make sure that I have confessed my sins and repented of them before I can have reconciliation with God, and even though sometimes life seems to be going good when I haven’t confessed my sins that does not mean that I have fellowship with the Lord only false hope.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Ask the Lord to search my heart for any sin in it and then confess and repent of it.
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