Dealing With Our Enemies

We are now in Chapter 42 of Genesis….If you haven’t been following along, please go back and catch up here, here and here. God has been teaching us some really cool things through Joseph.

God has taken Joseph so far;  from a 17 year old prideful boy to a man of honor. One that is known by his walk with his Lord. Satan continues to get his hands on Joseph but the Lord has stayed with him through it all.

After Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh had Joseph moved from the dungeon that he had been living in all of these years. Joseph was now to hold the highest job there was in the land under the Pharaoh.

I am thinking about all of the people out there right now that are looking for jobs. I am sure that it is discouraging at times. I am sure it is easy to say….why would they want me? Do you really think that Joseph ever dreamed that he would have a shot at that job? Even though they had cleaned him up before he went before the king inside Joseph knew from whence he came. He was not only a prisoner but also a foreigner. One that had been rejected by his family.

Talk about baggage!!!

But I think by now Joseph really understood that his life was in God’s hands. Look over your own life…have you come to grips with that yet?

So in Chapter 42 Joseph’s dad tells his brothers to get to Egypt and get them some food. Famine had struck the whole world and yet Egypt was prepared. Not only had they saved back enough for themselves but they had enough to help others during these hard times….

I am sure there is a lesson in that for us all….

Joseph got up that morning like he had for the past 7 years. He had a great job…I would imagine that the hurts of yesterday are pretty buired by now and then there they are…the people that hurt him the most in his life…his brothers.

I wonder what went through his mind. I imagine he never thought he would see them again and yet here they were. It says that he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. I can only imagine the spiritual battle that was going on inside him at this time.

He accuses them of being spies so he can keep questioning them…he wants to know about his family…but he is not yet ready to tell them who he is.

Have you ever been hurt by someone so deeply and then had to face them again in life? God may have been working on you…maybe he has taught you to pray for your enemies…but now you have to been friendly to them? Really God?

Joseph ends up putting them all in prison for 3 days…I think this was to give himself time to pray. He had not prepared himself for this moment.

After 3 days he ends up releasing all but one of them and sending the others to go back and get the little brother. Joseph told them to do this and you will live for I fear God. I bet he was tempted to let them all stay and rot in prison but he feared God.

Sometimes we have to set aside the wrath that we would like to throw on people that have hurt us and do what God wants us to do.

Joseph does end up keeping one of the brothers so they will come back…but they don’t come back…at least for a while. Was God working on Joseph during this time? Was his anger slowing being turned by a God that knows unending love?

The Bible doesn’t really tell us about the struggles that Joseph goes through during this time but it does tell us about the brothers. They are still ridden with guilt about what they did to Joseph….dad still hasn’t gotten over the pain…Joseph has no idea that his family has been dealing with their own battles emotionally since that day so long ago.

What if today you had to face the person that “ruined” your life….how would you handle it? You might want to think about it because you have no idea what God has in store for you today.