Sonshine's Journal

We often think of a famine as a climate change issue but in these chapters, God uses a famine to fulfill His impending plan. Joseph’s brothers are reaping what they sowed. They sowed hatred, but God took that hatred to reveal not only their hearts but also His plan of redemption for Jacob and his other sons. The drama unfolds in order to show us sometimes our wrong decisions often lead us back to God so He may be magnified and we are brought back to Him. In all of this, we see a character quality in the man Joseph that God blesses. Joseph is not only obedient in all circumstances, but he is also giving God honor in a time of uncertainty and He uses three dreams to point to Himself as Creator and Sustainer. 

When have you been placed in a place of stress and uncertainty about today and tomorrow and beyond? This was Joseph’s lot and we see how he faced this as a lesson for us. Remain obedient, give honor to God and He will bring His plan to fruition all so we can reap the blessings God has for us. 

We often read this chapter with the focus on the dreams that Joseph with our wonderment at their meaning.  In hindsight, God was preparing the brothers for their future but they are blinded by hatred so they cannot see. One thought turned to multiple thoughts of how they can rid themselves of Joseph, but God had a bigger plan than they could see. 

There is a principle here that we need to take time to explore. Hatred doesn’t just happen,it is birthed in our hearts which Jeremiah reminds us is deceitful and desperately wicked. It is here front and center. The sons of Jacob hated Joseph and so devised a plan to rid themselves of him, including murder. Only one brother did not agree but that is beside the point. Hatred is a sin that lies in the heart of man but God’s purposes will prevail. Joseph will endure many years of toil and trouble but in the end, he will succeed beyond the brother’s wildest imaginations. 

Do you hate others because of their success? Do you ponder murder as a point of revenge? Take a lesson from these chapters that hatred is a sin issue and it starts in the heart. Cleanse your heart so God can bless you. 

It seems that Jacob never learns and so once again we see the work of the evil one through deceit. Jacob fears for his life but not of the life of his only daughter and the work of deceit has carried over into his sons, Simeon and Levi. The tragedy of these two chapters is almost beyond my ability to comprehend. Diana is raped and her two brothers take the offending man and kill him…all because Jacob did not take care of the initial problem. In the heat of the moment these two brothers claim it was their right to kill, but none of this would have happened if Jacob had been the father who cares and protects.

There is a lesson here for us today: fathers not just care for your children but also protect them, especially daughters. Because of Jacob’s ongoing problem with deceit, his own sons followed in his footsteps. As he has done in the past, so he continues on. One sin led to the next and so on.

 Choose today to be the father that leads with integrity and honesty. Be an example of Christ to them. 

One trait we have seen in the life of Jacob is fear. In fact, he is the epitome of this verse from Proverbs: “the fear of man is a snare.” [Prov 29:25] What does that fear look and behave like? Jacob deceived his father Isaac and again when Laban tricked him. Yet, Laban’s trickery was greater than Jacob’s Jacob asked for his wages only to be given a test that Laban hoped he would fail, but God had a greater plan. In his fear, he left with his family to return to Canaan.

Jacob even announced that truth to Laban; “I left secretly because I was afraid!” Twenty years have passed. We have seen the fruit of Jacob’s deceit with Isaac but God placed Laban in his presence to show him that deceit never is blessed by God, yet Jacob has not learned that principle so far. He again sought to deceive others and paid the price as his own children adopted that same way of life. 

So it is with us more often than not. Deceit is like a revolving door. Once it is opened, it continues to turn again and again. Beloved, we must terminate that behavior and speak truth not lies. 

One of the tools our arch enemy uses is deception and he does it when we willingly offer ourselves as part of his plan. Jacob had deceived Esau into giving him the birthright. Now years later, Jacob followed his mother’s advice to deceive his father Isaac. 

What is deception and how can we avoid doing this to those we love most?

Simple meaning, deception is intentionally making someone believe something that isn’t true, like lying, tricking, or misleading them with false information or by hiding the truth, often for personal gain. It’s the act of causing someone to accept a falsehood as valid.

Although Jacob originally rejected his mother’s advice, he eventually followed her words. Jacob fooled Isaac but the end result was separation. Rebekah encouraged Jacob and will be forever held accountable, yet it was Jacob who did not stand strong when he knew this was wrong. How about us when others seek to convince us a plan is ok? Will we stand strong in the face of deception or will we cave? In the end, Isaac realized he would always lose when he tried to resist God’s will, even when he didn’t like the Lord’s will and we do the same when we refuse to follow God’s prescribed plan. 

Over and over from Genesis three to Genesis 20 we have seen how sin corrupts and people do not learn. Abram did not! We must! First Abram left the land that God promised and went to Egypt in a time of famine. He lied about Sarai and Pharaoh caught him in that lie. Now Abram concocts that same lie again back in the Promised Land. He fudges the lie, Sarai is complicit and again Sarai pays the price. We want to scream at Abram and ask him why? There is a verse in Proverbs that explains the reason: the fear of man is a snare. [Prov 29:25] And Abram faced it with Abimelech. Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” Abram’s response is clear: “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.” 

Fear is the tool Satan uses when we fail to follow God’s explicit commands. He used it in the Garden with Eve and he used it again in the life of Abram and he uses it in our lives as well. Fear is the proper response to what is dangerous to us but when we allow the fear of others to encroach our mental or physical  space, it is wrong. 

Has Satan used the fear of man as his spear to cause you to not trust God? Repent of it and turn to God for times of refreshing. 

The tragic story that is presented here is a reminder that what God hears the cry of our hearts and sees our life struggles. Hagar was an Egyptian slave that Abram brought back to the Promised Land when he failed to honor Sarai as his wife. God had told Abram that he would have a child but impatience bore its fruit and he succumbed to it. How often do we become impatient and succumb to the call of our human nature. First it was Eve and now it is Abram; how about me or you? 

The slave Hagar was taken from her homeland, her family and her freedom. No wonder then that after this that she ran from Abram’s tent and cried in the desert. Seeing her alone, God saw and heard her cry. He promised her a child as she sat in the desert. Sometimes God allows us to enter the desert where we can be alone with Him. In that place Hagar said: “ So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!”[ Gen 16:13] Hagar called God “El Roi” the God who sees me. Encouraging words to one who is suffering the mistreatment of her personhood. 

Perhaps you are in the desert with tears flowing. Beloved, God sees your pain and He hears your cry. Listen for His voice and obey Him for He has a blessing waiting for you. 

God told Abram to leave his home and go where He would send him, to the land of Canaan he went, but note: Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev. How like us, we move from here to there. There is a key word here: continually. That speaks of restlessness. Why are we restless? Why do we pick up and move constantly? How different was my mother-in-law. Her favorite saying was: “I was born in NY and I am going to die in NY” and she did just that. But Abram having left Ur moved to Haran and from there he moved “continually.”  

God told Abram that He would give this land to him, yet in his first test, he failed. A famine happened and he moved to Egypt. Abram was restless and he failed to trust God for the land of Canaan’s provision —even in a time of famine. How about us? Are we restless? Are we content? Take a lesson from Abram: trust God in all circumstances for He is the Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. 

How many generations are present in your family today? Moses, in writing the book of Genesis, noted the generations of several of Adam’s children, the most notable is the line of Shem. How about you? It is fun to look at those who are present now and you can share with them the history of their relatives. But, what happens when a generation dies as has happened recently in our family? That history if not recorded dies with them. Perhaps that is why the popular Ancestries.com is a popular website. People yearn to know about their relatives that make up their family line, good or bad. So what can we learn from this reading today? God placed the first generation to live outside the beautiful garden of Eden. It was not His design but sin separated them from the Holy God. From there they did as God said: multiply and fill the earth and today there are multiple generations that can look back centuries.

Stop today and consider those who have gone before you and give praise for those whose lives mirrored God’s perfect design: to love and worship He who is the generator of generations. 

Yesterday we read about the glory of God in creation and were overwhelmed by His goodness and beauty. Today what was beautiful is marred by the disobedience of one followed by the disobedience of another and so on and on. 

The voice of the serpent captivated Eve and she succumbed. So too with us when we succumb to his voice. When the serpent comes to us, do we stop and ask, is it truthful? Is it beautiful? The serpent said what God had said was not true. That is his way and the consequences are separation from God. 

Whose voice do I/we listen to? When we finished Revelation we read: “Then I heard the altar reply, “Yes, Lord God, the All-Powerful, your judgments are true and just!” [Rev 16:7] What John wrote centuries ago and what Genesis tells that God is truth and that has not changed.