Today’s Bible Reading is Genesis 49-50, Psalm 19, and Matthew 19. Our devotional is from Genesis 49-50.
Today’s scripture reading brings us to the close of our study in Genesis. Genesis 49 records Jacob’s final instructions to his sons and his prophetic insight into the future of their lineages (49:3-27).
Lest there be any doubt what his wishes were, Jacob rehearses with all his sons the request he expressed to Joseph in Genesis 48…that he be buried with his grandfather Abraham, his father Isaac, mother Rebekah, and his wife Leah (49:29-32). Jacob dies in the closing verses of Genesis 49.
Genesis 50 opens with a dramatic, emotional scene as we read, “And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him” (50:1).
Overseeing the mummification of his father’s body, Joseph’s desire was to give Jacob a burial fitting of a king (50:2-3). When the days of mourning were past, Pharaoh granted Joseph his blessing to carry Jacob’s body to Canaan and bury him in his ancestral tomb (50:4-7).
The funeral processional out of Egypt was like none ever seen in Canaan (Genesis 50:8-9). Jacob’s twelve sons, their families, and some senior leaders of Egypt driving chariots and riding horses, escorted Jacob’s body home (50:10-13). With their father buried, Joseph and his family returned to Egypt (50:14).
Remembering the evil they committed when they sold him as a slave, Joseph’s brothers feared the death of their father would give him opportunity to exact revenge (50:15-17). Instead of revenge; however, “Joseph wept” (50:17b) as his brothers bowed before him, fulfilling the vision the LORD gave him in his youth (50:18; Genesis 37:3-11).
Far from vengeance, Joseph assured his brothers God was judge (50:19). Though he remembered their sin, he was confident the wrongs he suffered were providentially used by God to prepare the way for him to preserve his family (50:19-20).
Genesis 50:20 records one of the great statements of faith in God’s sovereignty and providence found in the Bible.
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (50:20).
Joseph’s life is a testimony of what it means to suffer wrong and continue to walk in faith and humility. He did not focus on the grievous evil committed by his brothers, nor give rein to bitter, vengeful thoughts. Instead, Joseph was confident whatever wrongs he suffered, God was faithful and would bring good to pass!
Friend, allow me to close and invite you to take time for a spiritual checkup. Are you bitter? Are you nursing hurts and embittered by disappointments?
I do not know your circumstances or the wrongs you have suffered; however, I know God is sovereign and He will bring to pass that which is good. Will you trust Him?
Copyright 2019 – Travis D. Smith