Daily Devotions

Gen 45: 8

It was not you who sent me here, but God.

We read of the account of the meeting between Joseph and his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy food when the famine has struck the land. Much time had passed since Joseph was sold as a slave to Egypt and he had spent a long time in prison for being falsely accused of seducing his master’s wife.

Now Joseph has already been vindicated and is the Prime Minister of the whole of pharaoh’s empire and has been governing the land for over two years for pharaoh and making huge profit for pharaoh as well. Joseph was much loved by the pharaoh and he had absolute power over the entire kingdom and was only under the pharaoh in power.

Now when Joseph’s brothers were brought before him, they came in fear as they were aware of the position and authority of Joseph. Then when Joseph saw them and revealed himself to them, they were even more afraid as they realized their past error. They beg and asked Joseph for mercy and in reply Joseph did not accused them of any wrong doing but said instead that it was God who had sent him there.

Ordinarily, any men would have been angry and unforgiving to those who have wronged them but instead Joseph told them he did not bear any grudges and revealed that it was God who arranged for his being brought to Egypt for his mission of preparing the nation for a great famine and also to provide for his family.

This brings us to the understanding that God works in mysterious ways; we may not understand some events at first, even though things may not seem right but the end result is that God’s perfect plans would be revealed and then we will be able to see the full picture. God’s ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than ours.

The scriptures remind us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. God’s plans are above our understanding. He sees far into the future whereas we see only the present circumstances around us.

We need to seek God’s gift of discerning to be able to know and understand His will and plans for us.