Pilgrims And ForeignersSample

Joseph. A foreigner, but under the care of the God and Lord of History (Gen 37–50)

If a foreigner or a pilgrim is someone who resides temporarily outside of their place of origin, subject to the difficulties that such a displacement implies, Joseph meets this definition in all senses. After being sold as a slave by his jealous brothers, he ends up in Egypt. As a vulnerable foreigner he wasn’t able to defend himself against the unfair accusations of Potiphar’s wife. He ended up in prison, left for dead. However, Joseph was also the object of providential care- after a while God freed him and exalted him, using him to bless others. In the end Joseph was the means that Jehovah used to rescue the Egyptians as well as his own family from the famine! Joseph recognised that it was God who directed his pilgrimage according to his sovereign purposes. He told the same brothers that sold him: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). 

We are also foreigners and pilgrims in a hostile world (1 Peter 2:11). We are vulnerable, subject to injustice and persecution. At the same time we are the special object of providential care, like Joseph. God works everything for our good (Romans 8:28), frees us (Galatians 1:4), and uses us to bless those who are around us (1 Peter 2:9). In the midst of our difficulties, how can we be sure that God will look after us? Partly because of his faithfulness, revealed in the life of Joseph. But even more because one greater than Joseph was sent as a foreigner to this hostile world (John 3:17), subjected to vulnerability and injustice, given over and abandoned to death by his brothers. God freed him, resurrected him and exalted him and in him all the nations of the world are blessed. 

Thanks to Jesus we can know that God is by our side always: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32). May the Lord help us, like Joseph, to trust Him, to be faithful and to bless others on our pilgrimage

Matthew Leighton

Motives of gratitude:

· Thank you, Lord, because by means of the difficult circumstances that we experience we understand the wisdom that comes from above. Thank you because all things work together for good. 

· Thank you for preserving our heart in those difficult circumstances

· Thank you for the strength you give us in each situation 

Confession:

· Forgive us for often not trusting your sovereignty and your perfect plans.

Requests:

· May God guide our pilgrimage according to his sovereign purposes as he did with Joseph 

· May we confess and understand that God acts for our good, that he frees us, and that he uses us to bless those around us 

· May the Lord help us trust in Him, be faithful to Him, and bless others in our pilgrimage