✝ Daily Encouragement (10/10/23) "God Rewards Faithfulness

Published: Tue, 10/10/23

A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2023

"God Rewards Faithfulness"

Personal note: Brooksyne returned from her 12 day trip where she visited family in OK, AR and MO, saw many friends and attended her 50th high school reunion. We picked her up in Baltimore last night and got home around 11:30pm. It's great to have our family back together again!

Message summary: How do you respond when people hurt you? Joseph provides a sterling example.

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“He turned away from them and began to weep, but then turned back and spoke to them again” (Genesis 42:24a). “See to it that …no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:15).

Dave, the worship leader in our church, is easily moved when introducing a song, reading a Scripture, or offering a prayer. His tender and sensitive heart toward the things of the Lord is often witnessed as his voice may tremble in an attempt to not openly weep. In the Bible famous weeping men include Jesus and Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. But today let us consider a specific time when Joseph wept.

Joseph is a most intriguing Bible character. The late British Bible teacher A.W. Pink , in his book “Gleanings in Genesis”, notes 101 parallels between Joseph and Christ. Obviously I won’t list them all here! One of the interesting characteristics of Joseph is his freely expressed emotions. In the Genesis account we find him weeping on eight different occasions.

Today’s Scripture portion records an event that took place during his first encounter with his brothers after a separation of 20 years. The last time he had seen his jealous brothers was from the back of a caravan while he was being hauled off as a slave to Egypt, thanks to their devious plot to be rid of him once and for all.

During these 20 years in Egypt he had many occasions when disbelief and bitterness could have consumed him. But in doing so it would have overpowered the sensitive, charitable, and loving spirit that God was developing in Joseph.

Interestingly, Joseph’s dreams as a young boy revealed that he was going to be a man of great power but didn’t disclose the extremely painful process that would lead to his exalted position in his adopted land of Egypt. His place of great honor was acquired by great humility. God had done a special work in his heart through the numerous and enduring trials. Scripture assures us that God’s hand was upon Joseph’s life. Repeatedly, in the midst of every major setback, the Bible declares, "The Lord was with him".

Remember, Joseph was but a boy of just 17 years when he came to this foreign godless nation. He experienced great hurt, fought bitterness and rejection, and longed to see his family and homeland. Yet he remained faithful to the God of his childhood in a land of idolatry, without the encouragement of other believers, He didn't attend Christian retreats or Men’s Conventions, and no written Scripture was available to sustain him. Yes, indeed, "the Lord was with him".

Have others hurt you? Of course they have! Oswald Chambers has observed that "it is nonsense to say that suffering makes saints; it makes some people devils". Joseph’s heart could have hardened after the long years of hurt and separation from his family. If anybody had ever been mistreated it was he. Consider all the years he had to "nurse his pain". Even in Egypt he had experienced several serious, disappointing setbacks before his eventual promotion.

Yet he stayed faithful and didn’t grow bitter. And on the occasion in today’s text, while Joseph was in a position of authority over his brothers, he saw their deep consternation and was emotionally overwhelmed.

Are the hard experiences of life, including hurts from others, going to make you bitter or better? Joseph expresses one of the great principles of life he had personally realized from this very difficult experience; “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). May we too look for the bigger picture of God’s overall plan and remain faithful no matter the painful circumstance of our lives, for the greater good of those whom God has called us to influence.

Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13 )

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Jesus, when we are hurt we instinctively turn away from the source of our pain. But then we’re inclined to carry that pain inwardly where it can easily spread and damage our emotions, distort our outlook, and strain our relations with others. If we don’t surrender our bruised emotions to You the growing root of bitterness begins to squeeze out the stored up blessings we receive from You day after day. The by-products of bitterness such as anger, rage, self-pity and other destructive attitudes become the order of the day, paving the way back to our old nature.

But You have commanded us to rid ourselves of all such things that violate the new self as we are being renewed in the image of our Creator. We can only do this as we clothe ourselves daily with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Help us to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances we have against another. We can only do this as we carry out the same kind of forgiveness that You, our Lord and Savior, demonstrate toward us. You are the supreme example of One who embraced enemies who mocked You and friends who betrayed You. Help us, in as much as it is possible, to live at peace even with those who inflict wounds. By Your grace and our surrendered will we choose to cut off the root of bitterness so that the fruit of the spirit has ample room to grow in our lives. Amen.

See Colossians 3.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Faithful" Watch video on YouTube Erik Nieder (Shared this song yesterday but it really fits with today's message as well)

Brooksyne's note: It's great to be home again and I thank God for protecting us in our 1500 plus miles I traveled with my sister, Elaine. I was warmly greeted by Stephen and Ester last night and "smothered" with kisses, licks and unending excitement by the puppies. They're still clinging today! I will give an overview of my travels in a future message since I have a lot of clean up and catch up work for now.

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."

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