Good morning y’all. Thank God it’s Friday!!! Today we are in the last chapter of the book of Genesis :), God alone be praised!

In this chapter we see Joseph and his brothers mourn their father. The high officials and Josephs family go to Canaan to bury Jacob. Josephs brothers afraid and unsure if Jacob will turn against them now their father is dead; Joseph reminds them it is God who has turned everything they meant for evil around for him; Joseph prophesies God will deliver and return the Isrealites back to Cannan and Joseph dies and asks for his bones to be taken back to Canaan.

Be blessed 🙂

Verses 1- 13 
Summary of the funeral and mourning rites that was conducted for Jacob. His sons obeyed his death wish and buried him in the cave as requested.

Verses 14 – 21
Josephs brothers were afraid after their father died and they returned to Egypt from burying him, that Joseph will retaliate and treat them badly. So they sent him a letter saying their father asked him to forgive them of their sins.

I am impressed by Josephs reaction when he received the letter. His reaction tells us he wasn’t even thinking about revenge at all. Scripture says he broke down and wept. He was sorrowful and sad that they thought he would take revenge. All he wanted to do was to keep providing and taking care of them.

Same with God,  He is sad when after forgiving us and telling us He has, we keep holding to the sin and allow that fear stop us from approaching him as the loving and caring father that He is. 1st John 1:9 says: “But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away”.(1 John 1:9 CEVUS06)
Don’t let the devil cheat you or rob you any longer of what’s yours in Christ.

Then his brothers came to him and bowed down at his feet and said to Joseph; “we are your slaves”. At this point Joseph could have been pumped up with pride. He could have rubbed it in his brothers face reminding them of his dream and their reaction saying they would never bow down to him. He could have agreed for them to be slaves and dealt with wickedly just to prove a point to them. But I thank God that Joseph didn’t give in to those evil desires. Instead he understood forgiveness and the fact that it was God all along working things out. He reassured his brothers that he would continue to take care of them and their family.
Lets see his response in verse 19 to 21

But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19-21 NLT)

Am i God that I can punish you – he understood he wasn’t in the position to punish but God. God is the one who will fight for him and vindicate him.

You intended to harm me but God intended it all for good – This reminds me of Romans 8:28 which says: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them“. (Romans 8:28 NLT). The enemy may try but God has the ultimate say and He knows how to turn around what the devil meant for harm, for our good.

He brought me to this position so I could save the life of many – he recognised that his position was not for him to to take revenge but to be used by God to save people. God sent him ahead as He knew the famine was coming.
The position you are in now is not for your benefit alone. Ask God to reveal to you the purpose why He has placed you there. Joseph discovered the purpose why he was in Egypt, hence his brothers ill treatment didn’t affect him anymore cos he realised it was God orchestrating everything all along in order for Gods purpose to be fulfilled in his life.

I will continue to take care of you and your children –  Reasurring them that he will continue to care for them. That’s the mandate God has given him so he was going to continue to fulfill it irrespective of their father being alive or not.

Verses 22 -26
Joseph is about to die, but before he dies he tells his brothers that “God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land He solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob“. Joseph was prophesying about the future and the fact that God was coming to deliver them. This is confirmation of what God told Abraham in Genesis15:13-14 that his people will be slaves in a foreign land but he will bring them back.
Gods word can be trusted. He watches over his word to fulfil it. Be encouraged 🙂

Prayer.
Dear Lord we thank you for today. We thank you for reminding us that you are in control of our lives; that you are able to make all things work together for our good. We ask for grace to continue to trust you and be led by your Spirit. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thank you for joining today.

Note: we resume chapter blogging on Monday with the book of psalms. We will be looking at psalms 3 as we have read Psalms 1 and 2 previously. (See blog post for Psalms 1 and Psalms 2)

Below is the reading list for next week.

Have a great day and lovely weekend in advance 🙂

***With God all things are possible***