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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

Satan and God are not fighting some kind of “cosmic battle” because there is no contest. He and his fallen angels with him only have as much power and ability which is granted to them by the Lord himself. Don’t misunderstand, Satan is powerful, but God is infinitely more. Take the devil seriously, but understand who you are with the Holy Spirit (if you’re a Believer). Satan is on a leash, he is not free to deceive whomever he wishes. Resist him, and he flees.

Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

There are a few lessons here. First of all, you need to plan for times when you won’t be earning. You may lose a job, you might want to retire, or you could find yourself wanting to follow a new passion by starting a new business or go on mission. Joseph was wise to set aside in the good years to pay for the lean years. We should always be thinking about that. Living “paycheck to paycheck” if you don’t have to, is not good stewardship. Secondly, if you fail to do this, you end up selling yourself into slavery, usually to the government. When you place the responsibility of taking care of you in the hands of the government, they will take everything you have. That’s what happened in Egypt, and it took Moses, the plagues, several generations, and an act of God to reverse their troubles. Each person is responsible for themselves and their own family, that’s the best way.

Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.”

Joseph treated his brothers, and the rest of his family, with love and compassion. This is a lesson, perhaps, Joseph learned from his uncle Esau. Jacob did not treat his family this way. He was always looking for a way ahead. He was willing to step on his brother to move up the “ladder” another rung. Not so with Joseph. He used every bit of influence he had to better the life of others. He loved his family even though they treated him so badly. May we be more like Joseph, and less like (young) Jacob.

*Reading the OT in 2017 plan can be found here

“Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.”

Sometimes when we win, we lose. Joseph’s life is a great picture of how when you’re down you can win, and when you’re up you can lose… and yet Joseph makes it out ok in the end because he puts God first in every situation. His brothers had treated him poorly and he finally had the upper hand. He could, and perhaps rightly so even, dole out some justice upon those who had treated him so badly. This seems to have been what he had in mind when he devised this “test” for his brothers… yet at the end of the day, he was a man of compassion and was too close to the Lord to harbor a grudge. Don’t think that just because you have the “upper hand” in a situation you’re justified in taking full advantage of your position. Always be humble and count others as more significant than yourself. Put yourself in their shoes and do what’s best for them. God will honor that.

*Reading the OT in 2017 plan can be found here

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor

Joseph didn’t deserve the situation he found himself in. His brothers were jealous of the position God would give him, so they sold him into slavery, SLAVERY! He ended up as a servant in a great man’s home, and just when he found himself in his master’s good graces, the man’s wife ruined Joseph’s life. Honestly, Potiphar probably would not have found out (at least not at first) so Joseph did the right thing by honoring both his master and his God. The hard thing and the wright thing are very often the very same thing. Don’t take the easy way out. Don’t only have a good attitude when you get what you feel like you deserve. Be like Joseph, in whatever situation he found himself in, he honored the Lord by working hard and showing respect. Even in prison, God gave him favor. We might not think God is showing us favor because of our current situation. We might think God has left us because of our present state of affairs, yet, when we honor God with our choices, he is always with us. Trust him today!

*Reading the OT in 2017 plan can be found here