FBC Daily Devotional – Feb. 8, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Monday to you, the start of a new week, and I hope your week gets off to a good start, and perhaps one of the first things you do in the day is watch these devotionals, and if so,

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I hope that today's devotional, the encouragement that we can get from it, will kick your day off well, kick you off to a good week.

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I hope you were able to get to worship together with God's people yesterday, in spite of the very winter -like weather, cold, cold temperatures, but nevertheless, here we are, and the start of a new week.

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Well, if you're reading in our daily Bible readings, you've come to Genesis 41, and finally, finally,

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Joseph is getting out of prison, and what strikes me in this whole account of Joseph's ordeal is that it may take years, it may take years, but eventually the

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Lord's purpose for adversity can begin to emerge. Maybe think about this,

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Joseph, he's in Egypt, he's endured false accusations, he's endured imprisonment, he's been a slave, he's been a prisoner, and he finally got to the place in prison, he was entrusted with a great deal of responsibility, but he got to the place in prison where he was able to interpret the dream for Pharaoh's butler that ended up proving to be true, the butler gets out of prison, and Joseph's hoping that the butler's going to recommend him and put in a good word for him so Joseph can get out of prison, but he languishes for another couple of years, and yet finally, finally,

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Pharaoh has a dream, but he can't interpret it for him, and then, then the butler realizes, oh yeah, now

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I remember, and he brings Joseph to mind. And so here he is, he's been released from prison, and he comes before Pharaoh, he interprets

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Pharaoh's dream for him, Pharaoh is elated, and he puts Joseph second in command over all of Egypt, puts him in charge of collecting surplus grain and storing it up for the next several years.

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But here's the thing, it's been more than 10 years since Joseph has entered

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Egypt, and in fact, we come to chapter 42 and verse 1,

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I can't remember exactly where it is, I don't remember the exact verse right now, but anyway, it says that Joseph was 30 years old, he was 30 years old when all of this took place, being released from prison and being put in this position of responsibility.

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Again, well over a decade has transpired since he was sold into slavery.

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But God's plan for that adversity is beginning to emerge.

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Now the whole scope of that plan isn't going to be clear for quite some time yet, because it's going to be years, it's going to be a couple of years, no,

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I'm sorry, it's going to be seven years of plenty, and then there's going to be two years of famine before Jacob's family,

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Joseph's brothers, end up coming down to Egypt and all of that.

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I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here. But the point is this, we may go through adversity, and it can be long from our perspective, and it can be grueling, and we don't see any purpose for it at all.

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We don't understand what's going on, we don't understand why. But the reality is that God is at work.

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The years that Joseph was seemingly languishing in slavery and then in prison was all purposeful, it was all preparation, it was all setting things up for just the right time.

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God's doing a work, not only with Joseph, but what we're going to discover is he's also doing a work in the hearts and lives of his brothers.

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They need to have some work done on them, too, and it will be done, and we'll eventually see that.

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But the point, again, the point, we're going back to this point, we're languishing in adversity for a long time, and it may take years before God's purpose for that adversity may begin to emerge.

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And then it may take quite a long time yet before the full -orbed understanding of that plan, of that purpose, comes into view.

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Now in Joseph's case, it may be easy to get sort of a microscopic view of this whole thing and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, because Joseph has to be there so that when famine comes to Canaan, the brothers come to Canaan and then dad moves to Canaan and all the rest of that, and he can save their lives.

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Yeah, that's all true. But save their lives for what?

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There are plenty of people that would die of starvation in a famine like this. Why is

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God wanting to save the lives of this family? You know, remember the promise that was made to Abraham and then reiterated to Isaac and then to Jacob, that the seed of these men would be as the stars of the heaven, as the sands on the seashore, would not be able to number them, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in them?

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That plan is yet to be fulfilled. Joseph is sent to Egypt to save this family for the ultimate fulfillment of God's purpose.

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Then we come to chapter 42, and once again, the

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Lord uses adversity to put his plan into action, to put his actions into motion.

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The adversity of famine has finally come to Canaan, and this compels

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Jacob to act, to send the brothers to Egypt. And oh, what's coming?

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None of these guys have any clue what's about to open up before them. Well, I hope that today you will get encouragement from the fact that God uses our adversity and he has a plan in it and a purpose for it.

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It may take us time to find it and to discover it, but he does. So may that encourage you today.

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As you hear the phone ringing in the background, that just reminds me there's all kinds of adversity in this world.

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There's even complications to something as simple as recording a devotional, but maybe

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God has a purpose in that as well. Well, let's pray and commit these things to the

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Lord, shall we? Our Father and our God, we are grateful today for just the awareness that you have purposes and you have plans, even in adversity, and our adversity may seem long and arduous and without a sense of purpose in our perspective.

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Help us, O Lord, to take the long view. Help us to trust you in it all. And be confident that in your time and in your way, you will bring about that good purpose that you seek to accomplish in our lives.

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And this we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right.

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Well, have a good rest of your Monday, and I trust the Lord will bless you richly in this day.