Psalm 105:1-6; 16-22
God’s Faithfulness to Israel
1 O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
5 Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
6 O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
16 When he summoned famine against the land,
and broke every staff of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters,
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord kept testing him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21 He made him lord of his house,
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to instruct his officials at his pleasure,
and to teach his elders wisdom.
Joseph was an unlikely leader, but God used him, even when his brothers had NO use for him. He was a dreamer whose dreams made his brothers mad, so they sold him off to traders as a slave. The brothers devised a plan to make their Dad think Joseph was dead.
Joseph wasn’t – he ended up as a big-wig in the Egyptian royal courts. The brothers came to Joseph begging for food, but they did not know that Joseph was their brother. After a few tricks up his sleeve to get back at his brothers, Joseph welcomed them to his new adopted land, reconciled with them, and cared for them.
It is a great story. It was captured wonderfully in the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Epiphany Drama Ministry’s production of that will always be one of my favorite shows ever!
Joseph was able to use the gifts God gave him – to interpret dreams and give answers to questions that no one else could answer.
Here are some:
- What does occasional furniture do the rest of the time? (Think about it…..)
- What happened to preparation A thru G?
- Can you imagine a world without hypothetical questions? Just wondered…
- Why is every letter “c” pronounced differently in the proper noun “Pacific Ocean?”
Seriously –
Where do you go to seek answers to questions? Sometimes the answers don’t come as quickly as we wish (the past five months have taught us this, yes?). Sometimes we need to dwell in the questions and be open to the answers, even when they come from places we least expect.
Thank you, God, for people of wisdom who bestow wisdom.
Let us pray:
We’ve got questions. Direct us to the answers only you can give. We pray this in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen.
