Trusting God's Plan in the Waiting: Lessons From the Life of JosephShembull

THE FAMINE

Seven years have passed and the predicted famine is here just as Joseph said. This drought wasn’t localized to Egypt, other nations in the region were suffering as well. Word got out Egypt had grain, so everyone was clamoring to buy from them. 

Back in the land of Canaan, Jacob and his sons are hungry and getting desperate. Most likely their crops had suffered as well. Jacob tells his sons to go buy some food from the Egyptians before it’s too late.  The famine must have been pretty bad because he sent ten of the brothers to get the grain.  Notice, however, he didn’t allow Benjamin to go. Jacob seems to still be playing favorites, even 20 years later.  

Don’t you love that God directs Joseph’s brothers right to him? What are the odds of this small group of Hebrew shepherds would be sent to buy food from their long-lost brother whom they betrayed?  

Friend, when it’s time for your wait to end, God will be the one who orchestrates it in His perfect timing, not a day beforehand. After all, you don’t want to get ahead of God and miss His very best. When God accomplishes it, He will receive all of the glory, not you!  And isn’t that how you want it to be?

“So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.” (v6)  

Joseph is now the governor of Egypt. Twenty years have passed since this scrawny Hebrew teenager was sold into slavery. Before their very eyes appears to be an Egyptian in his late 30s, so his brothers don’t recognize him. Oh, but Joseph can’t forget them! The memory of their faces is etched in his mind!  

He remembers something else too; that crazy dream all those years ago, a dream about stalks of grain bowing down before him. Funny, the dream involved grain, the same thing that brought the brothers to Egypt. Even the symbolic grain in Joseph’s dream had a purpose. Remember this, God is in EVERY detail! 

While you are waiting and seeking the Lord, keep an eye out and ask the Lord to give you spiritual eyes as you wait.  You don’t want to miss any detail of what He may be doing to lead you to your destiny.  A phone call, a tweet, a perfectly timed introduction could very well involve the Master’s hand.  You’ll want to remember these details when you are telling your amazing story of God’s deliverance one day! 

Questions:   

• Are there some things you’ve written off as coincidences that may have divine origins?    
• How do you think Joseph might have felt when he first recognized his brothers?    
• Have you asked God to open your eyes lately to what He’s doing in your circumstances right now?