“And Jacob their father said to them, ‘You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.'” Genesis 42:36
January 22, 2024
Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was not just having a bad day, but the clouds of fear and worry hung over his entire life. At least that’s the way Jacob saw it. He was advanced in years. His favored son, Joseph, was thought to be dead. There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan and Egypt. Simeon, another son, was being held hostage in Egypt, the price of whom was to have Benjamin, his youngest son, taken to Egypt. You have to admit. Things were not looking good. The problem was that Jacob could see no farther than the trouble itself. But the real truth was that Jacob was wrong. He was interpreting life from the shadows. How easily we can do this. When we do this, God’s sovereign purposes are not being taken into account. We can make bad decisions, and we see our troubles only in terms of self-absorption. The truth of the matter was, Joseph was alive and well in Egypt, actually the secretary of agriculture, and God was working to bring about an eventual joyful family reunion. Are the circumstantial mosquitoes of life effecting your outlook? Faith holds on to the loving sovereignty of God. The best look is upward not outward.
H
“O Father, You are sovereign, The Lord of human pain, Transmuting earthly sorrows To gold of heavenly gain, All evil overruling, As none but Conqueror could, Your love pursues its purpose – Our souls’ eternal good.”
Margaret Clarkson