December 12, 2024

Passage Read: Genesis 41-44
Meditation Verse: 42:16

Thought

How have I never seen this? Joseph remembers his dreams as a youth and realizes how close he is to fulfilling the first dream, only Benjamin is missing. So this whole ruse is to see that first dream fulfilled. He needs Benjamin to come down with the rest of them and bow before him to fulfill the first dream. And sure enough, on the next visit all eleven of his brothers bow before him. Do they have any idea when they fulfill Joseph's dream? Does any one of them realize what they're doing? Does it occur to any one of them that this was what Joseph had dreamed, though they don't know what's become of Joseph? All eleven of them just bowed down to a man, just like Joseph had foreseen in his dream!

Application

It apparently made no impression on them, because it was so far from their minds that Joseph could be alive. They were so focused on getting in and out of Egypt without losing Benjamin and with grain that they never seem to have considered what might be happening. It's interesting that despite Joseph's failed effort to get free of his captivity, he saw that he needed to find a way to make his brothers bring Benjamin. From his first questioning, he may have realized that there was no way his father would let Benjamin make the journey, so he took it upon himself to create this ruse to make it happen. And it worked. So I cannot always leave everything to God to work out His will. As much as I want God to perform miracles, there are times when I need to help make things happen. There are many commands and instructions that fall on me, like witnessing or rebuking or directly instructing. I'm responsible for those, but not for the response of people I speak to.