Post Sunday Devotional May 11, 2008

Genesis 47:9 “And Jacob said to Pharaoh,"The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

This will be the final post Sunday devotional surrounding the life of Joseph and his family until we one day meet them again somewhere down the future path that God is blazing for New Heights and I wanted to end it in a manner that will show us just how free God truly desires us to be from each and every deep burden of life.

Our betrayals when they occur are painful for numerous reasons. One of those reasons is the seemingly hideous fact that our betrayers walk away with minimal damage if any at all. We rejoiced with Joseph on Sunday as he confidently stated to his brothers, “I am Joseph.” We rejoice in the fact that Joseph is reunited with his father whom he loved, but isn’t it a bit trying on the inside of us that the brothers are given this grace at the hand and expense of Joseph and they get to live like kings in the middle of a famine? I know God forgave me and because of that He states that we must forgive others (Colossians 3:14) but should they really just be welcomed back in, no consequence, no justice served, come on this is just, well just…come on now just say it…..IT AIN’T FAIR! Those brothers should be shipped off to the middle of the desert and forced to build pyramids for the next 400 years! (Their later generations would do just that…sadly sin has a way of working its way down through our children…pause and think about this a bit…)

We will certainly not get very far if we are constantly out seeking justice on all those that have betrayed us, dreaming about their demise, dreaming about them receiving their just rewards. God wants us free from those thoughts. We can be free from those thoughts by trusting Him to do right in His time. Read the below verses one at a time slowly and if you can, while you read these, think about the one who you are still having difficulty forgiving or forgetting…

Psalm 7:11 “God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.”

Psalm 96:13 “For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.”

John 5:30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.”

You and I can trust the fact that God will take care of each and every situation. It may not seem so, but I think we would all be very surprised if we like God could hear the inner workings of the hearts that surround us each and every day. Read the verse again that this post Sunday devotional began with (Genesis 47:9).
Jacob, Joseph’s Dad had once betrayed his own brother and father in his past and look how he summed up his life to Pharaoh. My days have been few and evil. His pilgrimage or his journey of life did not live up to that of his father and grandfather. His life was not 100% miserable, but he is confessing to Pharaoh that his life certainly did not live up to what it could have. There were consequences for his past behaviors.

There were consequences for Joseph’s brothers. When Jacob blessed his sons (see chapter 49), Joseph was blessed above and beyond them. “Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow” Genesis 48:22

Here is how the genealogy would later be recorded and worded…

1 Chronicles 5:1-2 “Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (Jacob) — he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph's”

There is a direct tie between obedience and reward and disobedience and negative resulting consequences. As we spoke of on Sunday…on the heels of obedience comes joy. God would later speak to His people that obey your mother and father that things may go well with you and that you’ll live long in the land I’ve given you (the first of the 10 commandments that has a promise attached to it, Exodus 20, Ephesians 6:1-3) Joseph learned this, while his brothers and even his father Jacob did not fully comprehend this great truth.

God wants your burden of justifying each and every situation of your life and your relationships to be upon Him not upon you. Your role is to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” Matthew 6:20. Spend your time being the healer of other lives, being the minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). It is awful difficult to fulfill those roles when we are looking out for our own space, our own reputations, our own stuff, our own abilities and so on. Those things all do earn us rewards, but they are received here on earth (Read Matthew 6:1-18 for Jesus’ interesting commentary on doing things for rewards on earth). Why lay up treasures here on earth, a place in which they will not last and they will not be going with you? What would Joseph have earned if he won retribution against his brothers on this earth? He would have had them cast into prison or executed, great what now? Instead he offered grace, goodness and forgiveness and was richly rewarded with everlasting blessings, instead of temporary satisfaction.

God does not want you burdened with the job of justification (by the way we are as Romans 3:24 states: “justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus). The burden of justice is upon Him and He will do right every time. Trust Him and move on with your life.

For those of us who may feel like Jacob, that the days of our life have been few and evil. Turn back to God. Jacob did, Joseph’s brothers did and look at what God states to Jacob who grieved for so long…remember Israel is Jacob, Jacob is Israel……

Genesis 46:1-3 “So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" And he said, "Here I am." So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes."

God knew how much Jacob loved and longed for Joseph and God promised Jacob that your final vision on this earth will be that which you love, your son Joseph and no need to worry for as soon as your eyes shut that one last time, when they reopen you will immediately be in My glorious presence. Now that is grace.

Questions for You To Answer

Is there still a situation that you are not trusting God to rightly judge and thus you are carrying that burden? Why not go to God and give it to Him right now? Release the weight and Arise!

Do you feel like your days are few and evil? Ask God right now to show you in which areas of your life you need to turn back to Him so He may restore you fully and wholly. “He will surely bring you up again…”(Genesis 46:3)

Arise!