Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” ¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brickand mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” Exodus 1:8-14

“Patience is important when we consider the works of G-d” is a lesson that we learned in the previous devotion. However, in the first chapters of Exodus, we see that the people of Israel had been groaning under the weight of slavery and oppression in Egypt for a very long time. Finally, at the end of chapter two, G-d finally takes notice, and “remembers” his people.  The poets and the psalm writers often lament over G-d’s inactivity, G-d’s forgetfulness, G-d’s inattentiveness.

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? Psalm 44

But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? Psalm 88

Do you believe that God can draw away for periods of time? Does this thought scare you as much as it scares me? It may appear to us that G-d withdraws from us, but G-d is always there. Perhaps we have lost the ability to hear G-d’s voice, or have not set aside enough time to really listen like we should. My advice is to continue to listen for G-d’s voice—in time, we will realize that voice has always been there—we just have not been attentive like we should.

Pastor Dave

“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.” Genesis 50:15-21

Joseph tells his brothers these words, “Even though you intended to do me harm, G-d intended it for good.”  You know, Joseph has every right to deal harshly with his brothers – after all they did sell him into slavery, driven by their own jealousy And many would agree that they even deceived their own father for so many years. But, the maturity of Joseph’s faith and his understanding of how G-d can work in his life through adversity and destructive forces leads him to this mature declaration. I wonder, if things had turned out different, and Joseph, instead of in Pharaoh’s court as his right hand man, had instead ended up on the Jerry Springer show, I wonder how different his reaction to his brothers might have been? But then, would the average Jerry Springer interviewee be able to say that they believed that G-d had intended their lives to be dysfunctional?  G-d intended Joseph’s life to eventually turn out to fortune and fame, but he had to endure persecution, slavery, abandonment, and misfortune before he hit the promised land. We always have a say in how our lives turn out, but an important lesson that we learn from Joseph is that patience is necessary if we are to allow G-d to lead us and direct us. 

My friends, G-d reassures us that, through Jesus, we also will not only have opportunities for full lives now, but the promise of eternal life. They may not be straight paths, or without their road-blocks, but G-d promises to be with us through all our endeavors.

Pastor Dave