#christiandevotional Archives

If Only

Israelites saw so many mighty miracles from God’s hand. They witnessed the ten plagues that devastated the Egyptians, the tenth plague robbing the firstborn of Egyptians and their animals. Then Israelites saw the Red Sea part and drown the Egyptians who chased them. Israelites were fed by manna from heaven every day without having to labor for it, and so on and so forth.

Even after witnessing God’s faithfulness, they complained to Moses, because they began to crave other food than manna. They started to wail and cry, saying, “If only we had meat to eat!”. They craved the food they ate in Egypt – fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic, etc. They began to despise the manna which rained from heaven.

When Moses heard the cries of the people, he got frustrated and complained to God about having to lead these ungrateful people and asked God to kill him instead. The LORD became exceedingly angry towards the people. He told Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves to prepare for the next day to eat the meat that the LORD would provide. The LORD will now provide meat and they will eat it not just for one or two days, but for one whole month – until they are fed up with the meat. The LORD was angry because they rejected Him and said, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”.

Moses said to the LORD, “I have 600,000 men on foot. How do you say that You will give them meat for one whole month? Will there be enough flocks and herds to slaughter? Will it be enough if we catch all the fish in the sea for their food?”.

The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” Numbers 11:23

Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail from the sea. It scattered over the camps of the Israelites. The land was filled with quail and it was within their reach to catch them. Each of them gathered so many of the quails. They cooked them and while they started to eat, while the meat was still between their teeth, the LORD struck them with a severe plague. There they buried the people who had craved other food.

We see the faithfulness of God and the ungratefulness of people. Often we are just like the Israelites. No matter how many miracles we see God do in our lives, we often doubt His power when we face difficult situations. We often wonder if God can fix that situation. If God could part the Red Sea and make a way if He could feed the Israelites every day for forty years with manna raining from heaven if He could quench their cravings for meat by providing quails for 600000 men for one whole month, is there anything that is impossible for Him? NOTHING. The LORD’s arm is not short. His arm is mighty to do anything that He desires.

Psalm 16:5,6 O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.

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Bread and meat

Elijah brought the word of the LORD to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel that till he says again, there will not be dew or rain in the land. After he said this, the word of the LORD came to Elijah asking him to get away from that place and to hide by the Brook Cherith. God told him to drink the water from the brook and that He had commanded the ravens to feed him there.

According to the word of the LORD, Elijah went to the brook of Cherith. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and in the evening. Though the rest of the land was under famine, Elijah was fed day and night with bread and meat, brought by ravens. One day, the brook dried up, due to the famine.

Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah, asking him to go to Zarephath, and to dwell there and that He has commanded a widow to provide for him. So Elijah obeyed and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, he saw a widow gathering some sticks. He remembered the word of the LORD and asked her for a cup of water. As she was about to bring water, he requested her to bring a small piece of bread too. The widow got frustrated at Elijah’s request and conveyed to him that she had only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar with which she was going to make a last meal for her and her son and die as they had no more hope left.

Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth”.

So she obeyed and did according to the word of Elijah, And God multiplied the flour in the bin and the oil in the jar. The widow, her son, and Elijah ate for many days, till the famine was over.

There are no other means which can provide for us like God faithfully does. Elijah obeyed and brought God’s word of judgment to the nation and he was impacted by the famine too. But God provided for him without fail. And through him, fed a widow’s family too. Isn’t it amazing? God could have continued to feed Elijah with the ravens and the water in the brook. The widow’s provision was coming to an end to the last meal anticipating only death after that. God dried up the brook just in time and sends Elijah to the widow’s place in order to provide for her! Our Jehovah Jirah! As we wait on the LORD, God is able to provide through unimaginable ways for His name to be glorified! Who could imagine that ravens could bring food diligently morning and evening?!

Psalm 34:10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

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By Fire

Elijah said to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, who led the people to idol worship, that till he says again, there will be neither dew nor rain in the land. Just as Elijah said, there was no rain in the land for three years which led to a severe famine. In the third year, God told Elijah to visit Ahab and that He will send rain on the land. Elijah told Ahab to bring the Israelites, 450 prophets of the pagan God Baal, and 400 prophets of another pagan God Asherah to mount Carmel. And Ahab did just as Elijah said.

When all of them gathered in Mount Carmel, Elijah rebuked the Israelites asking them not to waver between two opinions but to follow either Yahweh or the other false gods. Then he challenged the prophets of the pagan gods to bring the wood for two altars and two bulls for sacrifice. He told those prophets to build an altar and cut one bull and place it on the altar. The challenge was that without putting fire on the altar, they are to call their gods. The God who answers by fire is the true God. They chanted and called on the name of their gods till noon, cutting their bodies and shedding blood too. But nothing happened. No fire consumed their bull sacrifice.

Then Elijah asked the people to come to his side. He first repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. Then he took twelve stones, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. With these stones, he built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he built a trench around the altar. He put the wood and cut the bull and placed it on the wood. Then he asked the people to bring four waterpots full of water and pour it on the bull, and the wood. He asked them to do that three times – i.e 12 pots of water. The water filled the trench around the altar too.

Now, Elijah said to God, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that these people may know that You are the LORD God and that You have turned their hearts back to You again”.

Immediately the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”.

Two groups of people. One group chanted and screamed to their gods for half a day, shedding blood and hurting themselves, and yet with no answer. The other party just talked to God and the answer came immediately as mighty fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice along with the wood, the stones and the dust, and the water. Which side do we belong to? Even if we talk to a person, do we not expect an answer? ‘Silence is golden’ might sound good in a proverb. It is not when it comes to desperate prayers. What is the use of worshipping anything that does not answer? On the other hand, fire from heaven, can human minds perceive this idea? Fire from heaven at a word from the man of God.

Refer to 1 Kings chapter 18.

1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

May we not waver between God Almighty and the idols of this world, which can be money, status, power, beauty, or anything else. And may the God who answers by fire answer our prayers and even our thoughts! May Almighty God be so close to our prayers, petitions, and thoughts! AMEN!

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EL Roi

Hagar, who was a slave of Sarai, had no entitlement to opinion when Sarai decided to give her as Abram’s wife. And Abram also did not bother reminding Sarai about the promise which God had given about their offspring. And Hagar conceived with Abram’s child. When Hagar saw that she had conceived, she despised her mistress, Sarai. And Sarai nagged Abram blaming him for this situation, though she was the one who had given Hagar as his wife. Isn’t it amazing how desperation and impatience lead to wrong decisions in the life of people? Abram and Sarai were not ordinary people but the ones who heard directly from God Himself and yet they gave in to their own wisdom and made the wrong choices.

Neither Sarai nor Abram took ownership of their choices. Abram left the decision to Sarai and Sarai treated Hagar harshly. This led Hagar to flee from Sarai.

The Angel of the LORD, who is Jesus Himself, met Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness. He asked Hagar where she was going. Hagar replied to Him with all honesty that she was fleeing from Sarai. He told her to return to Sarai and to submit to her. He promised that He will multiply Hagar’s descendants. He gave the name for her child then and there and that was Ishmael meaning “The LORD has heard your afflictions”. Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You Are the God Who Sees”. In due time, Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram when he was 86 years old.

Abram was 100 years old when Isaac was born to Sarah, just as God had promised. During a feast of celebration for Isaac, Sarah ordered Hagar and Ishmael to be sent away from them. God also confirmed to Abraham to do as Sarah said. The next morning, Abraham took bread and a skin of water, gave it to Hagar, and sent her away with her son Ishmael.

Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness and the water in the skin ran out. They were on the verge of death due to thirst for water. She could not watch her son die of thirst so she put him under a shrub and stepped away at a distance and she wept loudly. And God heard the voice of Ishmael. The angel of God spoke to Hagar, “Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation”.

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She filled the skin with water. Just as God promised, He made Ishmael’s descendants into a nation.

The first time when Hagar ran away from Sarai, God sent her back to Sarai. The second time, when Hagar was thrown away by Sarah, God took Hagar away to a new place and established her there. God has a purpose for us wherever He has planted us. When the right time comes, He will take our hand and lead us toward the destination.

No matter how difficult a place can be, we are to humble ourselves and be under the shadow of the wings of Almighty God.

Isaiah 40:28 The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31. But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary; They shall walk and not faint.

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Have breakfast!

By the lake of Gennasaret, Jesus saw two boats. The fishermen were washing their nets because they had caught nothing. Jesus got into one of the boats which was Simon’s and started to teach the multitudes. While washing his fishing net, Simon was giving ear to Jesus’ teaching. After finishing His teaching, Jesus said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”. Simon replied, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word, I will cast down my net”. And when they did just as Jesus said, they caught a great number of fish to the point that their net was breaking. So he signaled to James and John who were in their boat to come and help him. And when they came over, they filled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon saw that, overwhelmed he fell down at Jesus’ knees. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men”. So when they had brought their boats to the land, they forsook their boats and the fish and followed Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11)

Later, after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection – Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples twice while they were confined inside the house due to fear for their lives. Even after seeing resurrected Jesus, as they did not know what was next for them, they went back to fishing following the initiative of Simon. Simon who was the first one to leave two boats full of fish to follow Jesus was also the first one to lead the rest of the disciples back to the fishing profession when they momentarily did not have the clarity of their calling. Though Jesus revealed Himself repeatedly to them, it was not the same as before when they had the continued presence of Jesus. Even then, Jesus’ patience toward them is simply astonishing. His patience towards us today is still the same.

That night also, history repeated. They caught nothing though they toiled all night. By morning, Jesus stood on the shore; Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”. They replied, “No”. Jesus said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some”. So they cast, and they caught so many fish that they were not able to draw it in.

Immediately John recognized that it was Jesus and he told Peter. Hearing that, Peter plunged into the sea and swam to meet Jesus. When they came to the land, they saw fish laid on fire of coals and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of your fish too”. They had caught a net full of 153 large fishes. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast”. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish. Not only did He repeat the miracle of letting them catch a boatload of fish again, but He also fed them with food prepared by His own nail-pierced hands. I lack words to describe this utmost kindness of Jesus.

This kindness was towards these disciples who abandoned Jesus and denied knowing Him while He was being crucified. Instead of zapping them with lightning or rebuking them, Jesus showed kindness to them. Jesus’ kindness towards us is mightily more powerful than any punishment which we deserve. His patience and love have the power to transform our lives to surrender ourselves for His work.

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Veggies, please!

Daniel and his friends were taken captives to Babylon. These were young men who were good-looking, gifted in all wisdom and knowledge, and quick to understand who had the ability to serve in the Babylonian King’s palace. The king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank. The things to note are that – not all the Israelites who were taken captives to Babylon got the opportunity to serve in the King’s palace. Daniel and his friends got the opportunity to live in the palace and were allotted King’s food in the land where they were captives. In spite of it, they took a stand of integrity for the LORD. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the King’s delicacies. So he requested the chief who was appointed over them to spare them from King’s food and give them vegetables and water instead.

The chief feared that his head would be in danger of the King’s punishment if Daniel and his friends’ faces looked weak and tired compared to others who ate the King’s delicacies. Daniel requested the chief to test them for ten days and see how they did. God gave them favor in the chief’s eyes and so he agreed. He tested them after ten days and Daniel and his friends looked better and fatter than the other men who ate King’s delicacies. And so the chief continued to provide them just vegetables and water.

We often cruise through this part. But if we put ourselves in their shoes, how would it have been? It would have taken quite some willpower to stand by this decision, no? They would have to control the desire of their eyes, noses, mouths, and hearts to stick to this decision, every time they see the King’s delicacies parading in front of them. The rest of them would have mocked them as idiots for rejecting such rich royal food. This was not once, not twice, three times a day or more. And God honored their decision.

We serve a God who sees us, who sees our every thought, word, action, attitude, motive, etc. He sees our good and our bad. The sacrifices we make for His Name’s sake do not go forgotten by Him. For these four men, God gave knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom. Daniel had an understanding of all visions and dreams. When the King interviewed them, the King saw that there were none like Daniel and his friends. And so they were chosen to serve before the King.

There were many who were with Daniel and his friends. Their names are not mentioned in the Bible. Something as small as deciding not to eat King’s food made them be chosen by God. Even in our lives, if we are committed to God in smaller things, God helps us to be committed to Him in greater things too.

God recompensed them for the sacrifice that they made for His Name’s sake. When we take a stand for God, God takes a stand for us. And when God stands on our behalf, there is deliverance.

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One Omer of Manna

When the Israelites grumbled against God, God promised to give them meat in the evening and bread from heaven in the morning. In the early morning, there was dew everywhere and once the dew melted, they saw tiny white flakes on the ground. Those were the size of coriander seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey.

God instructed them thru Moses to collect around one omer per person. Israelites collected it as instructed. When they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. No one was supposed to keep any leftovers for the morning. Some people disobeyed and kept some for the morning and it was full of maggots and began to smell.

On Saturday, they were instructed to collect double portions because they were expected to keep the sabbath rest on Sunday. Whoever went outside to find manna on the Sabbath day did not find any because God did not provide any. Also, God instructed Aaron thru Moses to take a jar and put an omer of manna and keep it for future generations to see it so they will know about the bread that God gave them in the wilderness. The Israelites ate manna for forty years until they came to Canaan.

One omer of manna was neither too much, nor too less but it was just enough. It was not supposed to be saved for the next day except for the Sabbath. While it got spoiled during the rest of the days, only on the day before Sabbath, it stayed fresh. And the one that was preserved for future generations did not spoil at all. And God fed six hundred thousand men plus women and children for forty years, every single day. God must have left the count of women and children to our imagination as it would be a humongous number. God kept track of the quantity for each family for each day. He kept track of double portion for the Sabbath day. He kept track of all these details for 40 years.

All of this care and kindness was towards the Israelites who were known to be stiff-necked and rebellious, constantly disobeying people, just like us. This just shows a glimpse of God’s never failing faithfulness even when we prove always to be faithless.

Mathew 6:31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat” or “what shall we drink?” or “what shall we wear?”.

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

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Me and my big mouth

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth.

I have a confession to make. I am a big talker. I wasn’t always this way. Decades went by in my life when I had no opinions, no self-worth, and no self-esteem. My life didn’t have any purpose then. Those were the times I suffered from depression without realizing it. After I hit the rock bottom of the depression, Jesus took me out of that pit. Over time, I became bolder. With that boldness came opinions and the urge to never hold back on them. Because I had dwelt on the other side for the most part of my life, I never budged when I finally got the boldness to speak my mind. When one doesn’t heed what God wants and simply speaks from a fleshly mind, the words come out brutally sharp. It is like having a sword in our mouth.

Eventually, God took hold of my life. He took me through some refining fire and removed the sharp edges in my attitude. Though I had been a “Christian” all my life, I wasn’t exactly living my life watching my steps to please God. God started to work in my life. I fell in love with this God who did not “punish” me as I deserved, but He “disciplined” me with grace. This made me fall in love with my God because He showed me grace when I deserved punishment. From then, I started to watch my steps and wanted to do everything in a way that pleases God. Pleasing God became my top priority. For a sincere believer, pleasing God cannot be a Sunday church thing, but it should be every day, every moment thing. In everything that we do, we ought to check if we are doing as Christ would want us to. And I started to live with that constant awareness.

But even then, I still had a major problem – my big mouth. Whenever I have things bothering my mind, I tend to speak my mind with sharp words and a rude attitude. Though I would only speak the truth, what lacks is grace-filled words. For years, I neither realized this nor did I feel sorry about that. But as I started to watch my walk with the Lord, I started to notice this trait of mine. I started to repent each time I would speak from my flesh. I noticed that when something about people bothers me, it starts brewing in my heart and comes out of my mouth lacking grace.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Most of the time, my talk is sweet, but like drops of dirt in a glass of milk, only when things bother me in my mind, do the words come out lacking grace. Allowing things about others to bother us is brilliantly done by the devil, like a bad neighbor who keeps throwing trash into our yard. Sometimes we fail to recognize that it is the effect of the flaming arrows of the devil that attacks our mind. It is very important that we discern it right away and pray against it.

As God gave me the conviction of this, I would repent heartily and God graciously forgave me, every single time. And He still does.

Sin is missing the mark from what God expects. So these days, every time I fail in this or any area in my spiritual walk, I would fret and be so desperate to repent heartily and have God somehow forgive me, yet again. I am very keen on not piling up things that do not please God in the nooks and corners and hidden closets of my heart. I would wonder how much repeated praying would it take to receive forgiveness. But God gave me this understanding that Jesus has forgiven us of our past and future sins and we just need to repent and receive it. Forgiveness is not dependent on a certain amount of praying, but it is simply admitting to God that I have failed again and asking Him to help me not to stumble again. Till our time in this world, we cannot live a perfect life, but with the help of the Holy Spirit Lord, we ought to strive towards the perfection standard of Jesus.

So after failing many a time, I have come to the point of asking God to help me in this area. I am asking God to give me the wisdom to discern when the devil is at work in my mind and to be careful not to yield to sharp words.

Proverbs 10:19 Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

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No one but Him

We went on a Disney Cruise trip to celebrate our tenth marriage anniversary. One of the days, we spent on the island of Castaway Cay, which is a private island. The entire passengers of that ship were on this beach. My boys and I were on floaters, closer to the shore. My older son cautiously stayed very close to the shore. My younger son was 4 years old then and I was in my floater holding onto his floater so that we were together. We did not realize that around 15 feet into the water, it was extremely deep. I thought that we were staying in the same spot close to the shore but we were drifting away from the shore. When my husband came back fetching a floater for himself, he saw that I and my younger son had drifted towards the deeper part. He swam towards us and grabbed hold of my son’s floater and took him to the shore.

Swimming in the sea wasn’t easy and he was all out of breath so he did not come back to get me but he went over to the lifeguard and told him that I am unable to paddle back to the shore and asked him to help me. In the meantime, the sky became dark and the lifeguards whistled for everyone to get out of the beach due to the danger of lightning strikes. I tried paddling back but I was going in circles in my floater.

As I was going in circles, suddenly I thought to jump off the floater by holding on to the handle and using it to swim back. My husband understood the stupidity of what I was about to do and immediately warned me not to jump off the floater – no matter what! So I continued trying to paddle back but in vain. As I looked around, it was only me left in the water. Everyone else had gotten out of the water for fear of lightning dangers. Now I started to get a little worried, as I was unable to make any progress and the lifeguards weren’t helping either.

When hope of help from man ends, the one who is ever so faithful helped me to see a floater rope that was tied from a lifeguard station in the water which extended to the shore. By God’s amazing grace, I quickly held on to that rope. Seeing that, the lifeguard told my husband that I will be fine and will get to the shore. I understood one thing – this rope was my hope of getting to the shore and I started to move step by step by holding on to the rope.

But, so unexpectedly, the rope slipped off my hand because I hurriedly let go of my hand before holding it with the other hand. And the rope started to slide over my leg. God gave me the quickest wisdom in that microsecond that if I let go of this rope, my situation was back to hopelessness. In that microsecond, God helped me to quickly grab hold of the rope with my leg as it was sliding. Then I quickly grabbed it with my hand and again started to move towards the shore, this time I was carefully making sure that I was holding it without letting it go. I made it safely to the shore.

As in the story of Joseph, his last hope seemed to be the cupbearer whose dream Joseph helped interpret. Joseph had no doubt that the cupbearer will be restored to his position in the palace. He asked the cupbearer to put in a good word to Pharaoh so that he could also be released from prison.

Psalm 146:3,5 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.

As expected, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph. Two years went by. The hope that the cupbearer would put in a word to the King diminished to nothing. I imagine how Joseph’s emotions would have been. I wonder if he still had any faith left. Though day times would have kept him busy as he was in charge of the prison, the night times would have often left him with the question, “Where are You, God? Why would you let this happen to me? Are You the One who gave me those dreams?”

When there was no hope left to put on man, God came through in His never-failing faithfulness. In God’s time, Joseph stood before the King, just as He promised. The cupbearer was sent before Joseph. He stayed a cupbearer, but Joseph was raised to be the second in command to the King. We serve a God who alone is the promise keeper! Our help comes from Him alone and no one else. Amen!

Genesis 49:23 With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. 24. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

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The Three Robes

Out of Jacob’s twelve sons, Joseph was his favorite. To show his favoritism, Jacob made a special robe of many colors for him. And Joseph waltzed around in his robe which made his brothers jealous and angry toward him. Joseph who was clueless about all this hatred added more to it by bringing bad reports about them to Jacob. This made the brothers even more furious and they no longer spoke kindly to him.

One day, Joseph saw a dream and he couldn’t keep it to himself so he shared it with his brothers. In his dream, they were all binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly Joseph’s sheaf rose and stood upright while his brothers’ sheaves gathered around his sheaf. Hearing this, the brothers snapped at him asking if he would rule over them. Another day, Joseph saw a dream again. This time he shared it with his father and his brothers. In his dream, he saw that the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him. This annoyed his father as well and he rebuked him for his dream.

Jacob’s sons went to graze their sheep in a distant place. Jacob sent Joseph to visit them and see if they were doing well. As Jacob reached the place where his brothers were, they recognized him from a distance in his special robe. They grew furious and plotted to kill him and throw him into one of the pits. But Reuben, the oldest brother, suggested throwing him into the pit, in the plan to let him escape later. So they stripped Jacob from his special robe and threw him into the pit.

As they saw Ishmaelite merchants heading to Egypt, they decided to sell Joseph and make a profit out of him. The Ishmaelite merchants sold Joseph to Potiphar who was the captain of Pharoah’s palace guard. Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers dipped his robe in a goat’s blood and sent it to their father and made him believe that Joseph got killed by wild animals which left Jacob to mourn in sackcloth.

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered and he lived in the house of Potiphar. God gave success in everything Joseph did and he was made in charge of Potiphar’s household. Joseph was a well-built and handsome young man. Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph with wrong intentions to which Joseph wouldn’t yield. One day, as she bothered him again, he asked her, “How can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?“. She caught him by his robe but Joseph left his robe in her hands and ran outside. Potiphar’s wife used that robe to cook up a story against Joseph and he was thrown in the prison.

The LORD was with Joseph in the prison and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So Joseph was put in charge of all those held in the prison. A while later, Pharoah’s cupbearer and baker were put in the same prison. One day, they both looked down in spirit and so Joseph inquired them. They both shared a dream they saw and they could not understand the meaning. Joseph instantly interpreted the meaning to them which happened exactly as he interpreted. On the third day, the baker was impaled to death while the cupbearer was sent back to the palace. Joseph asked the cupbearer to put in a good word about him to the King so that he can be freed from prison. But the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph.

Two years went by. Joseph was still in the prison. One day, King Pharaoh was very troubled as he saw two dreams, one after the other and he could not understand what they meant. As he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt to interpret the dreams for him, no one could. Then the cupbearer remembered Joseph in the prison and informed the King. The King sent for Joseph to be brought before him. Immediately, the officials got Joseph ready to go before the King and they put on new clothes and a grand robe on him. Joseph interpreted the King’s dreams by giving glory to God Almighty who is the source of all wisdom and hidden mysteries. The King put Joseph in charge of the whole of Egypt and took his signet ring and had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command.

Joseph was stripped from his first robe, he let go of his second robe and he was raised to honor with the third robe.

Psalm 105:19 Until the time that His word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose.

1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Trust Him and rest on Him. He knows what He is doing! Amen.

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