Genesis 42-47: Trials Become Triumph

Life was easy when Jacob's children were young.  They tended their many flocks and fought among themselves as to who was the greatest.  That all changed the day they sold Joseph to the Midianites who carried him off to Egypt.  In the ensuing years, they have all grown older and changed substantially.  They now have children of their own and know personlly the grief that their father has suffered all these years over the loss of their brother, Joseph.  The ones who hurt him so by getting rid of Joseph will now do anything in their power to prevent history from repeating itself with Benjamin, the youngest and only other son of Rachel. Judah, speaking for the whole group, is willing to become Joseph's slave in Benjamin's place. "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.” - Genesis 44:33-34 NIV

All the pain and heartache that Jacob suffered over the loss of Joseph was not wasted.  It ws all part of God's greater plan to save his family, not destroy it.  There is no way Jacob's family, all of his wives, children, their wives, their children, and even the cattle, would have survived the seven years of famine.  It would have been the end of the line.  But the God who spoke to both Jacob and Joseph in dreams had one not finished speaking.  Once more God visits Jacob in a vision at night.
 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”  - Gen. 46:3-4 NIV

Over and over again, throughout the Bible and even in our own lives, we see that what others meant for evil, God uses for good.  Pain, sorrow, it is all part of the human condition.  But if we see God, if we have our eyes set on him as our provider instead of our circumstances, perhaps, just perhaps, he will reveal the future to us in visions and dreams.  And even if not, if we yield those circumstances to him, someday, our trials will become triumphs.

2010 Post - Genesis 42-47:  Famine and Retrbution