Category Archives: Genesis

Genesis 44—What Has Given Way?

It had been roughly 20 years since Joseph’s brothers had thrown him into a pit, sold him into slavery, and then led their father to believe he was dead. They knew Joseph was the favored son and they knew the grief it would bring to Jacob. But young hearts that are filled with jealousy and rivalry are impetuous, and unable – or unwilling – to consider the fallout that is sure to come from their self-centered actions. Twenty years before this testing moment in chapter 44, these brothers did not care enough for their own father to spare him from what they knew would break his heart. They threw their brother into a pit and then sat down to eat lunch, no doubt in earshot of his fear. And then they went home, hurt their father with the news, and offered him comfort from the blow of grief they themselves had caused. {Genesis 3}

But time passed. Youth and rivalry gave way to famine, and now things matter differently.

“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.” Genesis 44:30-31

There is a giving way that accompanies the passing of our years. I’ve seen it. Felt it. You have too. We all have. Seasons of famine as God patiently waits for things to matter differently. For our selfishness to give way to compassion, and pride to give way to humility.

For Joseph’s brothers, this giving way of their jealousy and selfishness came with regret and fear. I’ve felt that kind of giving way as well, the kind that makes you wish for a do-over in the worst way.

And maybe that’s the topic today. I never really know until we’re knee deep in and suddenly, it shows itself in the way a father’s heart mattered differently to once selfish sons, as the years wash away petty pride, leaving behind the regret and fear that sometimes only a famine can bring.

What has given way in you, I wonder?

Have the years taken one thing and left another in its place? Something to ponder. But there is a better giving way that is far more worthy of our thoughts.

Has anxiety given way to peace? Fear to courage? Pride to humility? Self-reliance to trust in God? What is it, Beloved, in you that has given way to Jesus? Little by little, a moving back to make room, conceding the right to occupy. It is good sometimes, I think, to remember and give thanks for how much darkness has given way to Light.

For those of us who are in Christ, we can say this much for sure – death has given way to life.

May everything else that is in us give way to everything in Him.

Genesis 43—Suspicious Grace

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” Genesis 43:18

Joseph had already been good to his brothers the first time they came to Egypt seeking relief from the famine. Of course, they didn’t know he was their brother just yet, but they did know that for some reason, they were receiving extraordinary treatment, and it made them uneasy.

Remember how the brothers responded to Joseph’s harsh words on their first trip to Egypt?

They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Genesis 42:21

Guilt can make us assume that anything negative we are going through is a punishment, and cause us to suspect anything good that comes to us. That’s how I lived for many years, even after I was saved — assuming God was mad at me for all of the bad things I had done. And when something good did happen, I nervously waited for some mysterious “other shoe” to drop. Today, I can’t say that I fully comprehend the forgiveness that God has given to me, but I have learned to trust it.

Joseph’s brothers were unaware of how his heart was moved by the sight of his youngest brother, Benjamin, his brother from the same mother (I couldn’t wait to use that line). They has no idea the longing in Joseph’s heart to have his family restored. And because they don’t know his heart, they made assumptions that stirred up their own fears and suspicions. But perhaps it wasn’t just Joseph’s heart they didn’t know…

He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you.” Genesis 43:23

The kindness that Joseph showed his brothers in returning their money to them, was actually attributed to God, yet they remained fearful that something bad was happening to them because of what they had done to Joseph.

Sometimes, I think we struggle to see past ourselves enough to really see God. And when we do catch a good look at His grace, we see it through the filter of us, so it looks distorted. Suspicious. Like something we know good and well we don’t deserve.

If we want to see grace as it really is, we have to stop making it about us. He is full of grace. He is generous and He is kind, and His heart longs for restoration, not punishment.

He didn’t become that way for us. It was His image long before He made us in it.

Genesis 42—A Necessary Famine

“Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 42:5

God’s people were living in famine in the promised land, forcing them to go to Egypt to buy grain. They had no idea what, or who, was waiting for them there. Grain isn’t the only thing they found in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers found repentance and forgiveness for selling him as a slave, Jacob found the son he thought was dead, and his family found restoration.

Some things take a famine.

Famines force us up and out, in search of what we’re missing. Our famine today is not one of food, at least not in the U.S., and not yet. But there is another kind of famine – a spiritual famine, a scarcity of what we need to thrive spiritually.

Understanding. Wisdom. Joy. Patience. Peace. Power. Holiness. Contentment. The list goes on, but perhaps the overall famine that many of us experience is a famine of His presence. The sense of intimacy in His nearness.

So, what’s your famine? Whatever it may be, let it force you to get up and move. Let it drive you to seek Him, for those who seek Him, find Him. And those who find Him, find more than they knew they were missing.

“And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.” Genesis 42:6

Joseph was 17 when he had the dream of his brothers bowing down to him (Genesis 37). When that dream became reality, Joseph was at least 37, but quite possibly over 40, since we don’t know how long into the famine it was before the brothers came to Egypt. At a minimum it was a 20 year wait.

Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years between God’s promise of many descendents, to the birth of Isaac. Caleb and Joshua waited 40 years to enter the promised land, because an entire generation of unbelief had to die first. There was a 15 year wait between the time that David was anointed, and when he actually became king.

Time, more than circumstance, is the greatest tester of our faith.

Are you in the waiting time of testing? Take heart, you are in good company, and you have a good God. Don’t lose hope! There is always an end to the wait.

“They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Genesis 42:21

They knew they were guilty, so naturally, they thought what was happening was punishment. They had no idea that God was actually using a famine to rescue them, and was about to bring a beautiful restoration.

When we do not know the heart of God, we will assume the worst.

But when we do know His heart, we know His mercy. We know forgiveness. We know grace. And we know discipline that is done out of love, not punishment done out of anger.

Think about it…

? Are you experiencing some kind of famine in your life right now?

? What do you think is God’s purpose for that famine?

? Do you know the heart of God, or do you assume the worst?

Genesis 41—Connect the Dots

The story of Joseph is spectacular, but it is made more so when the hand of God draws a line from a father’s favorite son to a slave falsely accused and imprisoned, to a ruler with dreams that only one young man could interpret, to that man becoming a ruler himself, to the restoration of an entire family. Let’s connect the dots.

Joseph is sold to Potiphar, captain of the guard for the Pharaoh. It could have been anyone. He could have been sold to someone who would have just made him a slave until he died. But He wasn’t. He was sold to Potiphar. Because Potiphar had a certain wife.

Potiphar’s wife had a thang for Joseph if you know what I mean. It could have been that Potiphar was single, or that he had a wife who only had eyes for her husband. Endless possibilities here, but the only one that facilitated a greater plan, was that Potiphar’s wife had a wandering eye that landed on Joseph. Because Joseph had to go to prison.

Joseph is falsely accused and put into prison, and sometime later the cupbearer to Pharaoh is put in there with him. Because Joseph had to meet this particular cupbearer.

The cupbearer has a dream and God gives the interpretation to Joseph. Because someone had to know that there is a certain Hebrew who can interpret dreams.

The cupbearer is released and returns to his service to Pharaoh. Because Joseph needed the person who knew that he interprets dreams to be near Pharaoh.

Pharaoh has two dreams that no one can interpret, and then he is told about Joseph. Joseph interprets the dreams. And then Pharaoh issues this proclamation:

“You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”

And that is how God is going to save the twelve tribes of Israel through Joseph, and bring full restoration to Joseph’s family.

Nothing is a coincidence. Nothing is random. Nothing is wasted. We don’t know how much of what happened with Joseph was caused by God, and what was simply used by God, but we do know that He worked all things together for the good of those who belonged to Him!

In all of the suffering, all of the injustice, all of the offenses committed against one man, God’s hand is there and God’s plan is being worked. And as we will see in a bit, Joseph finally saw the bigger picture and gives glory to God.

When I consider my own story, I can connect the dots and see God’s sovereignty in my life. Can you?

Genesis 40—The Story God is Telling vs The Story We’re Reading

 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” 40:14-15

Loved by his father.

Given dreams by God.

Bought by Potipher, an officer of the King of Egypt. Elevated to be the overseer of his house.

Given dream interpretations by God, for two officials of the King of Egypt’s court, while in prison.

Hated by his brothers.

Sold into slavery by his brothers.

Falsely accused of rape by Potipher’s wife, and thrown into prison.

When those officials were released, Joseph was forgotten by them.

I don’t know what kind of emotional state Joseph was in by the time we come to the “forgotten in prison” chapter of his life. Was he angry? Confused? Depressed? We aren’t told, so I can only assume that Joseph’s emotional state is not a central issue. And that’s the eye-opener.

Because if most of us read Joseph’s story the way we read our own, his story is about the feelings of his life more than the purpose of his life.

{anyone else besides me get hit by that one?}

We would focus on the injustice and the wounding he experienced and what he did to get past all that and our lesson would be that even through his difficulties, he continued to serve God. It’s a good story and it’s a true story, but I don’t think it’s the story God is telling.

Joseph was hated by his brothers, which is why he got sold into slavery in Egypt. And Joseph was needed in Egypt.

Bought by Potipher, he became a trusted overseer in his master’s house. But then he was falsely accused, trust was broken, and he went to prison. Because prison is where God needed him to be.

In prison, he met two of the king’s officials who each had a dream, which Joseph interpreted. They were then let out of prison and, true to his interpretations, the baker was killed, and the cupbearer was restored to his position. Because God needed someone near the king to know that Joseph could interpret dreams.

And while Joseph had hoped to be released right away, the cupbearer forgot him, and it would be two years before he would remember the man in prison who could interpret dreams. Because in two years, the King of Egypt would have a disturbing dream, and lo and behold, not a single magician or wise man could interpret it. But that’s a part of the story for another time. Today, this is what I saw:

Joseph’s story wasn’t about his pain and suffering, but about his positioning. His pain and suffering led to Israel coming into Egypt to escape the famine, where they became quite numerous, which eventually made Egypt nervous, so they enslaved Israel.

“Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” Genesis 15:13-14

And somewhere in Israel, there would be a 17-year-old boy who was going to endure much pain and injustice, and it would position him to open the door for God’s words to Abraham to come to pass.

How have you been reading your story so far?

Genesis 39—He’s With Us Either Way

{The story of Joseph resumes, and the buying and selling of humans is nothing new.}

“Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.”

Son of Jacob. Grandson of Abraham. Hebrew royalty, so to speak. Favored son of his father. He was no down and out. This ain’t a rags to riches kind of story.

It’s a God was with him story.

The Lord was with Joseph. With him as everything he did succeeded. As he found favor upon favor, being put in charge of his master’s house. As he experienced the blessings of God over everything he had.

And when Joseph underwent the temptations of a woman throwing herself at him, God was with him. With him in the false allegations and his fall from Potipher’s grace. With him in the prison. With him in the loneliness; while he was missing his father’s house.

We are well to remember that Joseph didn’t know his story as it unfolded. He couldn’t skip to the end and see the redemption that was coming. There was nothing easy about Joseph’s story, but there is something so good in it.

We’ve all had, and are having, hard stories. But when we learn to believe that God is with us in the hard places, we will also learn that just because something is hard, it doesn’t mean it isn’t very good.

But here in the middle of our story where we can’t see how it all shakes out, or the redemption that’s coming, we are trying to figure out the God with us parts. And sometimes, maybe we get confused. Like, we think that surely God is with us when our church is full and everyone likes us. Or when people are getting saved at our altar calls and the sick are healed at the laying on of our hands. When our marriage is good and our job is good and our ministry is good and it’s just raining goodness.

But not when we’re binge eating again because we still haven’t learned how to stop eating our emotions. Or when we fight with our spouse for the third time this week. Not when we barely make eye contact with people because we just don’t want to have to engage one more time today. Not when we have crawled into a hole with our depression and just don’t have the strength to crawl back out.

When our water gets shut off because we can’t pay the bill. When our character is being questioned. When none of the dreams we had are coming true. When this sickness won’t leave, or the diagnosis is a shock to our system. When the loss feels like it might break your heart so hard it will never recover.

Those aren’t the signs that God is with us, right?

But this is what He really said…

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16

The evidence that He is with us is simple. He said He would be, and He doesn’t lie. His faithfulness is all the evidence we need.

Let’s lift our vision higher. Stop measuring God by earthly standards. He is with us, always. Redemption is our story and heaven is our home. Whether you are in the penthouse or the prison, look up. God is with you.

Genesis 38—Women Are Scappy & Sometimes God Kills People

In the middle of Joseph’s story, there is a detour that is chapter 38, about one of his brothers, Judah. He had a son named Er, who married a woman named Tamar. Er died, and then his other brother died, leaving only Judah’s youngest son, not of marrying age.

Tamar. She could teach us girls a thing or two about survival in a harsh world. She had strategy instead of self-pity. She took a risk because it was necessary, not trendy. She was strong and she was bold. It wasn’t a cause or a headline, it was who she was and what she had to do.

Her father-in-law, Judah, had promised her his youngest son, with no intention of keeping that promise. He left her as a widow in her father’s house out of fear that his last son would die as the first two did.

Those first two sons were evil, and God killed them, but perhaps it was easier to think it had something to do with their proximity to Tamar.

{Maybe we would all like to think that bad things happen because of someone else.}

Tamar waited. For a long time, she remained in her father’s house, waiting for a promise to be kept. And then she took a risk. Did something scandalous. Pretended to be a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, unrecognized by him. He promised her a goat in return. Overwhelming generosity was not his strong suit, apparently.

She demanded security until the goat came. Not because she was excited to get a goat, but because she was a smart chick with a plan. He gave up his signet ring, his cord, and his staff. Bad move, Judah, bad move. It will come with a hard lesson.

Tamar is now pregnant by her father-in-law. When he finds out she’s pregnant, not knowing that he is the father, he orders her to be burned to death. And then Tamar delivers the coup de grâce – the signet ring, cord, and staff of the man who got her pregnant. He repents in shame, and the story concludes with Tamar giving birth to twins.

I don’t know about you, but I am left wondering why this story was given to us. What did God want us to know from it? I don’t know those answers, all I can do is share what I learned from it –

First, women can be scrappy. We have a limit to how far we can be pushed before we come out swinging, and if it means survival, we will dig deep. We will risk and be scandalous and we will beat you at your own game if you give us half a chance. And in a world where women have been treated as property, used and discarded, oppressed and dismissed… this instinct for survival is often our ace-in-the-hole. But my point in all of those words is this: we are God’s creation and this ability to rise up and come back, to be strong and courageous and fierce, did not develop over time. This is how we are made.

We cannot use it as a source of pride, nor should we pretend it’s not there. It isn’t feminism. We are not better than men, and in many ways, we are not even equal. We cannot do everything they can do, and they cannot do everything we can do. That’s not how God set it up. But we are also not less than. We are not things to be owned, traded, or sold. We are co-heirs with Christ. We are part of the whole that is the image of God. We are strong and we do hard things and we will fight hard, for our own survival, but also for our families and our communities, because that is how God created us. On purpose. We don’t have to insist the world acknowledge it for us, we can simply walk it out.

Second, sometimes, God kills people, and we need to stop pretending that He doesn’t. Both of Judah’s sons were evil in God’s eyes, but perhaps not in anyone else’s eyes. Judah may not have been able to see the evil in his own sons’ hearts, but God could, and the scriptures tell us God killed them for it.

Can we be ok with that? And if we can’t, then can we acknowledge that our inability to be ok with it doesn’t really change anything? I know the need to explain it all is strong, but honestly, sometimes the best explanation is simply that God is God and we are not. We can either trust that He is good and right and just and merciful, or we can choose to believe that our own sense of right and wrong and justice is where the bar rests.

I choose the former. And I choose to let it reaffirm that I serve an all-powerful God who is the God of both heaven and earth, who sees all and knows all and does what is right whether I understand it or not.

A God who has created me to fight when I need to, for myself and for those I love.