Devotion:
Read Genesis 41:53-57.
As the earlier verses in chapter 41 tell us, Joseph makes the most of the time allotted to him. He ensures that the harvest over each of the good years is efficiently collected and stored. Joseph remained faithful to God, who had a great plan for Joseph that He worked out through all the twists and turns of his life just as he does in our lives. When the bad years began, like the shrewd businessman he must have been, he sold the grain to those in need, making a tidy profit for Pharaoh, which proved his worth once again to his boss. Joseph’s story and influence gradually shifted from a local setting (in a family), to a national setting (in the land of Egypt), to a much wider setting described as “all the world.” Because Joseph, with God’s wisdom, had stored up grain in Egypt against this major famine, Egypt became the most powerful nation in the known world of its day.
Joseph’s story in many ways parallels Christ’s own life. Joseph’s people would not accept him, he is lowered into the pit (like a grave), then raised to rule at the right hand of the authority, in charge of all things so that blessings might be distributed to many. Christ was sent by God to save the world. Jesus came to save us, the people of all nations, by feeding his very life into our starving souls.
Personal Worship Option:
God’s work in and through Joseph can inspire us to serve faithfully so that God can work in and through us too. In what ways can we be like the voice, hands, and feet of Jesus, bringing goodness and blessing in God’s world today? Lord Jesus, fill us with your life, and help us to share it, bringing blessing to others in your name.
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