From pit to palace!
Verse for Today: Thursday, October 18, 2012
Genesis 37:28 – So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
When the world is against God’ children, there is no limit to which they show their hatred to them. They have no hesitation to sink us in a cistern or sell us to gain some filthy lucre for their benefit. They just want to get rid of us so that our righteous living will no longer be an irritation to them. They do such cruelty to us by disregarding all the benefits that accrued to them through us. Joseph’s brothers conveniently forgot that their young teen age brother took all the efforts to travel all alone in search of them, risking his own life. They were unwilling to accept the fact that he was after their welfare and righteous living. Their ears were blocked with a callous conscience not to hear the cries and the pleadings of their brother for mercy. They seemed to want to teach their father also a lesson even when he was sent by the father with love, care and concern. They wanted to shut off any possibility for Joseph’s dreams to come true. Little did they realize that the Lord planned for Joseph to be their savior, but wanted to get rid of him from their sphere of activity! They thought their future would be bright only if Joseph is removed from the scene. But God was not willing to dismantle His plan for Joseph because of their callousness and wickedness. God gave Joseph the grace to go through the process of being in the pathway to His perfect will and so God transformed these events to a positive ending. This God is with us today to transform all the evil manipulations of the world against us into His pathway of grace.
Dear reader, are you exasperated because the world treats us cruelly? Do you feel grieved when they reject you and try to discredit you? When they use you as a commodity traded in the market, are you feeling dejected? Joseph’s experience tells you today to look unto the Lord who will not forsake you. Even when the world means your destruction, your Lord will not let you down. He will transform the wickedness of the world into experiences to mold you to be of use to Him in His divine plan. When you are taken to unfamiliar terrains and through strange experiences, your Lord will be with you. He will give you the strength to resist evil in your life and keep doing good to others. The fear of the Lord will govern your heart to continue to live a righteous life. He will keep you from compromise in holy living. He will help you to focus on the vision He has given you for the future. He will help you to see the bright sun in the midst of dark clouds of opposition, temptation, hatred, ingratitude and vengeance. Dependence on His promises will keep you going forward to accomplish His great purpose in your life. He will make the hating brothers pay you several folds for their livelihood in the days to come, but you will have the grace to give it back to them. God will bring those who hated you to repent and live in His fear. It is likely that Potiphar and his wife would have lived in fear of Joseph after he became the prime minister of Egypt. So did the brothers of Joseph as they fell prostrate before him. Yes, dear reader, your time will come in the will of God when the truth about your innocence and sincerity will be known to others. So let us today travel to unknown territories in life, trusting God to look after our future, with joy and praise in our hearts. Let us trust God to transform our hopeless situation to a new day of bright and glorious hope.
1 Timothy 4:18 – The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen!
Thought for Today
When we are in the will of God, He will convert even the fiercest schemes of the enemy into ultimate victory for us.
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