Week 4 - Tender Tears


My Daily Portion:
Monday: Genesis 43-44, Psalms 22, Mark 2.
Tuesday: Genesis 45-46, Psalms 23, Mark 3.
Wednesday: Genesis 47-48, Psalms 24, Mark 4.
Thursday: Genesis 49-50, Psalms 25, Mark 5.
Friday: Exodus 1-2, Psalms 26, Mark 6.
Saturday: Exodus 3-4, Psalms 27, Mark 7.
Sunday: Exodus 5-6, Psalms 28, Mark 8.

Genesis 50:19-21 But Joseph replied, "Don't be afraid of me. Am I God that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children." So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

One of my favorite people when I was a young girl, was my friends mother, Beth. Beth was the most animated and funny story-teller I knew. I loved listening to her hilarious stories about the mishaps of being a young bride, an inexperienced cook, getting in a wrestling match out in the pasture with her stubborn cow in the rain and mud, wearing mismatched dress shoes out of the house, and the list goes on and on. We would laugh until we cried at her kitchen table, as we could just picture her crazy life. But there was another side to Beth, which I remember more fondly than her funny stories. It was when the conversation would turn to the things of God. Whenever Beth would share a word or a testimony, she would begin to cry. They were not sad tears, just tears which showed her sensitivity to the Lord. I don't know if Beth knows that a young kid took notice of her. I couldn't help but notice this lady who was so genuinely in love with Jesus, that he moved her to tears each time she spoke of Him.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Genesis again, and its most remarkable stories! I have been shocked once again at the story of Joseph and his life's journey. His story is filled with drama and almost unbelievable bouts of bad luck, all the way to an unusual favor which could only happen in fairy tales. Many lessons for life are to be drawn from the true story, but one in particular gets my attention this time. It is the tenderness of a man who could have spent his years nurturing an offense against his brothers, but instead saw the whole thing as an act of God's love for his family.

Those older brothers were the picture of what rivalries, and jealousies are all about. They hated Joseph's relationship with his dad, and they hated the dreams he'd had, which seemed to point to his own big destiny some day, where they would be somehow in a lesser position than Joseph. They hated him so badly that they considered murdering him, but settled on selling him to a caravan of slave traders who were on their way out of the country, and they hoped they'd never see or hear from him again!

Joseph did encounter many promotions along the way, but he also was treated unjustly many times. Joseph was plucked from his family while he was only 17 years old and had not seen His father or his littlest brother since that time! He was thrown in prison as he was falsely accused of raping someone. While in the prison, he aided in someones release, while he was casually forgotten by the same man for 2 more long years before he was remembered.

When I read what happened when Joseph saw his brothers for the first time after all those years, I am still in awe of his emotional response. When he saw them the for first time, they had come to ask for food, and he remembered his dream and realized it was now coming to pass - his own brothers were here at his mercy, and the Bible tells us that Joseph wept! Later on, when Joseph was able to reveal his own identity to his brothers, he wept again, now telling them what happened from his perspective, only his take on events was so filled with love and tenderness. He told them not to be angry with themselves, and that God had planned this whole thing as a way to preserve them all!

I think my very favorite of Joseph's responses to his brothers is the last one in Chapter 50, verse. 17-19. Once Joseph's father had died, the brothers were worried once again that Joseph would take his opportunity to get back at them for their cruelty. Upon hearing this, once again, he "broke down and wept..."No, don't be afraid, I will continue to take care of you and your children." So he reassured them by speaking kind words to them.

How did Joseph do it? How did he have what it took to be so tender to his own family, who had intended to kill him and his dreams? I believe the answer is tucked away in an earlier chapter, chapter 13 verse 21. It says, "but the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love." It was the love of God which kept Joseph sweet! God showed Joseph His own tender and loving nature while in the prison, so that when Joseph was out of the prison, he would have that same nature at work in his own life!

How about you? Are you in some kind of prison? Possibly it's a prison where you could be tempted to nurture a host of disappointments with other people. Maybe the prison you are in is as a result of the choices others have made or because of false accusations. Maybe you are stuck living with the consequences of others lives, if not physically, then emotionally! That prison is the most obvious place to breed contempt and hatred, self-pity, or an unhealthy withdrawing of your emotions.

God loves to visit people who are in prisons. He offers the same to us today. Not just a visitation while in prison, but he will be with us for the duration, and it is here that He shows us His faithful love. He feeds us wholesome food, He cleans and dresses our dirty wounds, and He lets us know that He has not forgotten us while the world seems to carry on without us for the season of our imprisonment. He knows that one day, we will get out of this place, and if we have taken Him up on His love while we're in prison, we will be capable of love once we're out of prison.

I encourage you today, to allow God to show Himself to you, and give you perspective on your life, to make you sweet, whether in prison, or out of it. Allow the tenderness of God to make you as tender as Joseph. If He can turn things around for Joseph, then He can do it for you!