FOUND AND KEPT AND BLESSED

PROCLAMATION

“And the woman conceived, and bare a son … she hid him three months.  And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes … put the child therein, and she laid it … by the river’s brink … And the daughter of Pharaoh … saw the ark … opened it … had compassion on him … his sister … went and called the child’s mother … nurse it for me … And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.  And she called his name Moses … ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’ ”  Exodus 2:1-10 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  During a time when all male Hebrews were killed at birth, (Exodus 1:22) Moses was born and hidden by his mother.  When she could no longer hide him, she put him in a basket among the reeds at the edge of the Nile river. (Exodus 2:1-3)  He was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter who had compassion on him.  His sister, who was watching from afar, asked her if she wanted her to go and get a Hebrew woman to nurse him and she agreed.  Thus Moses was nursed by his own mother but he raised as the son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. (Exodus 2:4-10)  After he had grown up, Moses saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew man and he killed the taskmaster then hid his body in the sand.  The next day he saw two Hebrew men fighting and he asked the one that was wrong why he was beating his fellow Hebrew.  The man asked Moses, are you planning to kill me as you did the Egyptian? (Exodus 2:11-14)  When the Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled to Midian.  There he married Zipporah one of the daughters of Reuel and raised a son. (Exodus 2:15-22)

 

APPLICATION

In the midst of hard times and danger, The Lord God will make a way.  He protects, and He provides, and He prepares a path with provisions when all seems lost.  As we look back over our life we should be able to see the hand of God orchestrating the events.  We need to acknowledge Him in all of our ways and pray that He will direct our paths in the future. (Proverbs 3:6)  We should be grateful for the protection which He has afforded us by giving His angels charge over us. (Psalm 91:11)  “O give thanks unto The Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.” (Psalm 107:1)

WHEN THINGS GET BAD PRAY

PROCLAMATION

“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.  And he unto his people, ‘Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; Come on, let us deal wisely with them …’  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens …”  Exodus 1:8-11 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After the death of Joseph and his brothers, a new king came to power in Egypt who did not know of Joseph.  This new king was concerned with the large number of the Israelites so he made slaves of them and placed taskmasters over them. (Exodus 1:8-14)  The king told the Hebrew midwives to kill every male child that was born. (Exodus 1:15-16)  However, the midwives feared The Lord God and did not do as the king had commanded them (Exodus 1:17) and God blessed them with families of their own. (Exodus 1:21)

 

APPLICATION

There comes a time when things seemingly go from bad to worse.  When our leaders do not have our best interest at heart, they can institute plans which do us harm.  That is the time for us to pray.  The fervent sincere prayer of a righteous person is very effective. (James 5:16 )  However, we need to remember that God does thing on His timeframe and not on ours.

 

THEY MEANT IT FOR EVIL BUT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD

PROCLAMATION

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.  Now therefore fear ye not; I will nourish you, and your little ones.  And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.”  Genesis 50:20-21 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After the death of his father Israel, Joseph directed the physicians to embalm him, a process which took forty days.  Joseph mourned his father for seventy days then he asked permission of Pharaoh to bury his father in Canaan according to his dying wish. (Genesis 50:1-5)  Joseph and his brothers and his servants were accompanied to Canaan by all of Pharaoh’s officials with chariots and horsemen. (Genesis 50:6-9)  After burying his father Joseph returned to Egypt.  His brothers were worried that he would mistreat them for what they had done to him, now that their father was dead.  So they sent word to Joseph that their left instructions before he died that Joseph should forgive his brothers of their sins against him.  When Joseph heard this, he wept. (Genesis 50:15-17)  His brothers came to him and threw themselves at his feet and said that they were his slaves.  He told them not to be afraid.  What they did to him was meant to harm him, but The Lord God meant it for good.  God used it to put him in a position to save the lives of many people, and he was put in a position to provide for them and their families. (Genesis 50:18-21)  Joseph stayed in Egypt and lived to be one hundred and ten years old.  Before he died, he made his brothers promise to carry his bones out of Egypt when God led them into the promised land. (Genesis 50:22-26)

 

APPLICATION

Some people, including family members and “so-called-friends,” will do things to us which are meant to do wrong to us.  The things that they meant to harm us, The Good Lord can use to our benefit and for our good. (Genesis 50:20)  Remember, The Bible says, “… All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  Nothing that is formed against us shall prevail, and every lie which is told on us shall be refuted. (Isaiah 54:17)  We are protected by God because we are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)  So, fear not, we belong to Him and we are in His hands, and not one can take us out of His hand. (John 10:29)

A DYING REQUEST FROM A FATHER

PROCLAMATION

“And he charged them, and said unto them, ‘I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the end of the field of Ephron the Hittite … in the land of Canaan … There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah …’ And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into bed, and yielded up the ghost …”  Genesis 49:29-33 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, intentionally giving the younger son Ephraim the blessing which should have gone to the oldest son Manasseh, he blessed Joseph. (Genesis 48:8-20)  Then Jacob called his twelve sons together and blessed each one of them and spoke prophetically of their individual futures. (Genesis 49:1-28)  They would become the twelve tribes of Israel.  Then he gave instructions to his sons to bury him in the land of his fathers and not in Egypt.  When he finished giving his burial instructions, he breathed his last breath and died. (Genesis 49:29-33)

 

APPLICATION

People make promises to others all of the time and, unfortunately, we break most of them.  Many children are often “crushed” by the broken promises made to them.  However, there is something special about the promise one makes to a dying individual on their deathbed.  Those promises are usually held in very high regard and are often honored.  We should be very careful when we give our word to someone regarding something we plan to do in the future.  The old saying goes, “You are only as good as your word.”  We need to pray for faithfulness in the promises that we make to others.  We also need to be more faithful in the promises that we make to The Lord.  We make a lot of promises when times are bad that we somehow forget when things get better.  He doesn’t break His promises to us, and we need to keep ours to Him.

 

ISRAEL BLESSES THE SONS OF JOSEPH

PROCLAMATION

“And he blessed Joseph, and said, ‘God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.’”  Genesis 48:15-16 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  And it came to pass that Israel got sick and Joseph went to see him and took his two sons with him.  Israel recounted to Joseph that God Almighty had appeared to him in Canaan and told him that He would multiply his seed, and that He would give that land to his seed. (Genesis 48:1-4)  He also reminded Joseph of the death and burial of his wife Rachael. (Genesis 48:7)  Then he hugged and kissed both of the sons of Joseph.  Afterwards he blessed them, but he put his right hand on the head of Ephraim the youngest, and his left hand of the head of Manasseh the first born.  This displeased Joseph but Israel said that while both sons would be great, the younger son Ephraim would be greater than his brother and a multitude of nations shall come from him. (Genesis 48:8-19)  Then he told Joseph that The Lord God would be with him. (Genesis 48:21)

 

APPLICATION

If the truth be told, all of us are blessed, but we are not all equally blessed.  The Lord God does not follow man’s tradition of giving the first born the most of everything.  He blesses whomever He chooses, how and when He chooses.  God will frequently bless the younger son to be greater than the first born son.  That which The Lord God has in store for each of us will not be given to anyone else.  He blesses us according to our different abilities. (Matthew 25:15)  And in the end, we will all be rewarded according to how well we used the talents which He gave us. (Matthew 25:21 and 25:23)  Hopefully, one day we will all hear Him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN

PROCLAMATION

“And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.”  Genesis 47:13 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After his brothers told their father Israel all that had transpired when they were in Egypt, he agreed to accompany them and leave Canaan. (Genesis 45:24-28)  Along the journey Israel had a vision.  The Lord God spoke to him (Genesis 46:1-5) and from that time forward he became a man of faith.  When they arrived in Egypt, Joseph went to the Pharaoh and told him that they were in the land of Goshen. (Genesis 47:1)  He took five of his brothers with him and the Pharaoh asked them, “What is your occupation?”  When he learned that they were shepherds, he told Joseph to put them over his flocks. (Genesis 47:2-6)  The famine continued in Egypt and Canaan and the land wasted away.  The people gave all of their money to Joseph to buy grain.  The next year they traded all of their flocks and herds to Joseph for grain.  The following year the people traded all of their land to Joseph for the Pharaoh in order to buy grain because the famine was so severe. (Genesis 47:20)  Joseph reduced all of the people, except for the priests, to servitude.  He gave them seed to plant but required one fifth of all of the crops they produced belonged to the Pharaoh. (Genesis 47:21-24)  The Israelites stayed in Goshen for seventeen years.  When Jacob was a hundred and forty-seven years old, he made Joseph swear not to bury him in Egypt but bury him with his fathers. (Genesis 47:27-31) 

 

APPLICATION

Even during the seven years of bad times and famine, Joseph obeyed God, and God was with him.  The Lord God did not promise believers that there would not be any bad times or storms in our lives.  What He said was that He would never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)  He has to power to calm the storms, (Mark 4:39) but He did not say that He would calm all of our storms.  What He said was that He be with through the storms and always, even to the end of the earth. (Matthew 28:20)  So, no matter how dark it gets, it’s always darkest just before the dawn and joy is coming in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)  Keep the faith and praise The Lord.

DO NOT BE AFRAID GOD IS WITH US

PROCLAMATION

“And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto The God of his father Isaac.  And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’  And he said, ‘Here am I.’  And He said, ‘I am God, The God of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.’ ”  Genesis 46:1-4 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Joseph had convinced his brothers of who he was and had spent some time with them, Pharaoh found out that Joseph’s brothers were in Egypt and he told them to go back to Canaan and get their father and their families and bring them to Egypt. (Genesis 45:16-20)  When they got home and told this to their father, Isaac, he agreed to travel to Egypt to see his son Joseph. (Genesis 45:28)  While traveling to Egypt, The Lord God spoke to Israel in a vision and told him not to be afraid regarding this journey because He would be with him.  Israel continued on the journey but now he was walking by faith.

 

APPLICATION

Traveling on a long journey, or to a foreign land, or on certain streets within the city may cause us some concern.  However, The God that we serve is already wherever it is that we are going, and He will also be with us as we travel to get there.  He said in His Word that He would never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)  The Lord God is omnipresent; He is everywhere all at the same time. (Psalm 139:7-8)  He is also omnipotent; He has all power in heaven and in earth, and everything is under His control. (Matthew 28:18)  He has said, “fear not, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 41:10)  If The Lord God is telling us to go to some place, then we have no reason to be afraid.  We just need to stay close to God and pray about everything. (Proverbs 3:6, Matthew 21:22, and Luke 18:1)