God WILL strengthen us to FACE every TROUBLE!
January
17 Bible Reading: Genesis Chapters 49-50
God WILL strengthen us to FACE every TROUBLE!
"Joseph is a fruitful bough, a
fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall. The archers have
bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in
strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty
God of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel)" (Gen 49:22-24)
Joseph
stands before us as a model of extraordinary fidelity to God even from his
young age. It was no fault of his that he was born to the beloved wife (Rachel)
of his father Jacob. His father loved him over all his brothers and gifted him
with a tunic of many colors to display that love (Gen. 17:3). However, his
brothers envied (v. 11) and hated him (v. 4b, 8b), and would not even speak nicely
to him (v. 4b). When they got a chance, they sold him to slavery (v. 28), and
reported falsely to their father with his blood-stained tunic. In Egypt, Joseph
was delivered to prison being falsely accused of making sexual advances to
Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39). He was shackled and incarcerated for over two years
until he was released from prison, and finally became a person of authority in
Egypt.
Through all
the troubles that Joseph had in his life, the one reason he could hold on was because
“the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob” (Gen. 49:24). God gave Joseph
extraordinary strength and fortitude to withstand all the troubles that he
faced from the people near and dear to him, finally becoming a “fruitful bough” with “branches running over the wall”. Even
though Joseph was attacked by envy, revenge, temptation, and ingratitude, yet
by the grace of God he triumphed over all opposition and became the sustainer
of Israel. The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Joseph’s sons) shows
how fully the blessings of Jacob were realized in Joseph’s future generations
as well (see Num. 1:33-35; Josh. 17:17; Deut. 33:17). Great men of God like Joshua,
Gideon and Prophet Samuel could be counted among the famous descendants of
Joseph!
God gave Joseph
extraordinary wisdom and insight to
interpret the dreams of the butler, the baker and Pharaoh. God also gave him excellent managerial capabilities to
manage Potiphar’s household, the prison and even the kingdom of Egypt. The
thoughtful decisions of Joseph in managing the food distribution of Egypt saved
not only the Egyptians alive, but spared his own family from starvation and
annihilation. In the end, Joseph could say with confidence to his brothers that
even though they meant evil, "but
God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save
many people alive." (Gen 50:20)
Let us
understand that God will strengthen us to
face every trouble that we encounter in our lives, and make our lives to be
fruitful and successful as well. To do that we need to delight in God’s Word,
meditate in it continuously and follow the directions that God gives us every
day (Psalms 1:2). To be fruitful, we need to abide in Christ and let His Word
abide in us (John 15:5, 7). Then, God will make our way prosperous and like
Joseph, we too will have ‘good success’
in our lives!
