{"id":16659,"date":"2021-07-13T22:00:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_41_37-57-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-10T18:35:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T01:35:24","slug":"genesis_42_1-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_42_1-20\/","title":{"rendered":"God Sees Right Through"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 42:1-20 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 42:1-20.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 42:1-2 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0Jacob by this point was old, but his penchant for wanting to get things done and finding that the people around him were too slow was alive and well.<\/p>\n

Genesis 42:3-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies!
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And he put them all in custody for three days.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-20:\u00a0\u00a0Joseph\u2019s brothers, other than Benjamin, arrive in Egypt and bow before Joseph the prime minister, not realizing that they are bowing before their long lost brother.\u00a0\u00a0Joseph, knowing it is his brothers, pretends that he doesn\u2019t know them and calls them spies. Joseph\u2019s brothers reply by saying that they are \u201chonest men, not spies\u201d (v11).\u00a0\u00a0Joseph decides to test their honesty by having one of the brothers stay in prison while the rest go back to retrieve their youngest brother, to prove indeed that they were telling the truth.<\/p>\n

I find it interesting that Joseph\u2019s brothers stand before Joseph and call themselves \u201chonest men\u201d, not realizing that the very brother that they abandoned, sold and lied to their dad about is standing right in front of them.\u00a0\u00a0For me it\u2019s a reminder of the tendency of many people to exaggerate their good qualities and downplay their weaknesses, especially when they stand before a higher authority, and especially before God.\u00a0\u00a0But God sees through that game we play.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Joseph knew how dishonest his brothers could be, so God sees right through the resume we try to give Him.\u00a0\u00a0Yet like Joseph, who would show mercy to his brothers, God shows tremendous mercy to us.\u00a0\u00a0So instead of exalting ourselves before God, we are much better off humbling ourselves before Him.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, You see right through me.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing is hidden from You, and yet despite all the weaknesses You see in me, You look at me with love, mercy and compassion.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 42:1-20.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 42:1-2 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0\u00a0Jacob by this point was old, but his penchant for wanting to get things done and finding that the people around him were too slow was alive and well.<\/p>\n

Genesis 42:3-20 (NIV)
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
\n5\u00a0\u00a0So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.
\n6\u00a0\u00a0Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16660,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16659\/revisions\/16660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}