25/08/2017 - A WINNER’S DECISION

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Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. Genesis 45:28

When they sold Joseph, the word that his brothers gave their father was the worst possible he had ever lived to hear, because the son of his beloved Rachel, in whom he saw the will of God in action, according to those men, was dead.  No doubt that father’s heart could not accept that.  Maybe he might have asked himself:  “How could the Lord, my faithful Protector permit such a thing? The cold and heard heartedness of Jacob’s ten other sons lent him some credibility to the lie.

There are things we are told and we judge to be impossible, but we accept, although not fully trusting. After all, the blessing had to do with Israel and his seed.  Could God not have saved the young man?  Or what purpose and plan would He have for his life?  Jacob must have remembered when Rachel cried that she was sterile and unable to give birth.  She asked her husband for a son, who in his turn became upset and said that it was not in God’s plans.  Jacob had worked fourteen years to win his beloved’s hand in marriage. How could the Lord have forsaken him?  What had he done wrong? There were doubts in his heart.

During seven years there was a severe famine in that region. Egypt and Canaan had seen extreme droughts with no rain at all.  Had God not directed and used Joseph, millions of people would certainly have died. Thousands  came from all parts of Egypt and surrounding nations in search for wheat and with this opportunity the Pharaoh could buy all the land for his nation.  Joseph was a sure blessing to that country and consequently he made the Pharaoh very rich.

To have a servant of God at home or at work is everything we need, because he will certainly know from the Lord what is forthcoming. This way, taking the necessary steps and measures the people will be led through the crises as it had not even existed. The rejected brother had saved the entire family and in those circumstances, his brothers broke the good news to the father, now 130 years old, announcing that Joseph was alive.  Certainly those wicked men never even expected that such would happen one day.

Joseph’s brothers arrived in Canaan on the Pharaoh’s chariots and wagons. Initially, Jacob’s spirit fainted, because the possibility that his dearest son lived seemed too good to be true.  However, on seeing those wagons that had come to take him to reunite with his son – who had not been lost or killed but sold into slavery and had become ruler of that vast great land – Jacob’s heart quickened and turned lighter and in a thrust of faith gave no thought to his age and declaring “Enough!” he set off to see his son Joseph.

The joy and the gladness from the good news made Jacob revive. So before he died he decided to go to Egypt to be reunited to his son Joseph. When we are favored by something important our hearts rejoice exceedingly and through this the Almighty shows us our directions to be taken. The patriarch did not even consider his age and prepared everything to leave. However, before this, he and his fellow travelers had to go by Beersheba, a place of high significance to him.

If something gets you discouraged, ask God to give you an uplifting news or word. When you receive the revelation it will be sufficient for you to believe and keep going. All we need is a word from Him so that our crippled servant, violently tormented can be healed, for example.  When the word is sent to you and you receive it, believe in the solution to your problem.  Jacob said “Enough!” because the truth delivers, renews and liberates, vivifies and restores energies.  In fact, Israel was uplifted by the Lord!

In Christ, with Love,

R. R. Soares!