Week three of the study finds Joseph and his brothers further interacting as the story continues to unfold …

• May our hearts always remain tender. The famine continues. The brothers come to ask for more grain. Joseph’s heart breaks and he prepares a feast, asking for the brothers to be seated at his table. May God give us tender hearts for the people He places in our lives.
• We need a heart change. Joseph again sets his brothers up, placing his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. The brothers respond differently this time, “tearing their clothing in despair” (Genesis 44:13, NLT). We need a change of heart before we can obey and love Him completely.
• We must lay our idols down. We find the boys in a mess. Unable to go back to their father with another brother missing, they explain, “Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life.” (Genesis 44:30, NLT) How very sad for the brothers who know their father’s love settled on first Joseph and now Benjamin. It’s no wonder they struggled with strong feelings of jealousy and resentment. Obviously Jacob did not hide those feelings from them. When our lives are “bound up” with another life, or with something else, there is only one word for it – – Idolatry. May we lay those idols down before they wreak havoc in our lives.
• God is always in control. In revealing his identity to his brothers, Joseph explains 3X that it was God who had been in control of each and every event of his life. “So it was God who sent me here, not you!” (Genesis 45:8, NLT) We must learn to filter all which happens through the lens of God’s character. May we trust Him at all times.
• May we live by believing. The brothers return to get their father. As they explain all that transpired, Jacob was in disbelief. And Jacob, don’t you love his response? The man goes weak in the knees until he sees all the wagons. But before we criticize Jacob, don’t we do the same? We believe what we’ve heard only once we SEE it is true? Somehow we become people strong in faith once our eyes see. What’s the old adage say…I’ll believe it when I see it”. Yet this is not the way God desires for us to live. “We live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7, NLT)  Faith restores our souls. May we not live by the old adage or the world’s thinking on this one. May we live by faith, by believing and believing one foot in front of the other until we stand before the Lord one day and are able to say, “Lord, I believed!”

May we let Him change our hearts and increase our faith.

Today I am joining …  Create With Joy and #SmallWonder and Playdates With God .