In Genesis 41, Pharaoh, King of Egypt, dreamed. The butler remembered and recommended Joseph. Joseph was called from prison to interpret. Pharaoh promoted Joseph to PM. Joseph preserved life, forgot his troubles and was fruitful. However, if we were to remove God from Genesis 41, the account would be nothing more than an impossible fairy […]
Johann Sebastian Bach said, “All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul’s refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bub.” King David wrote in Psalms 13:6, “I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with […]
Hope is the opposite of despair. Despair is the sense that all hope is gone. “There are millions of African women who face despair over their plight at the hands of Islamic invaders who rape them, kill them, or take them as sex slaves. There are many that live in poverty and ghetto like conditions […]
Think of the grief and emotional pain that Joseph experienced as he was tied up and transported to Egypt. He was the only son of Jacob who had been faithful to the Lord. He tried to do right, and now the Lord allowed his brothers to sell him into slavery. With no hope of ever […]
The narrative of Genesis 38 probably began shortly before Joseph was sold to Egypt. Judah was 2-3 years older than Joseph. He must have married as a teenager before Joseph left home. Though the details of this chapter are unsavoury, God placed them in the Bible to help us see sin’s consequences. God wants us […]
When I was a boy on the farm, we had several 10 gallon steel milk cans (about 40L). Before my time, when a farmer milked his cows, he poured the milk into these milk cans and the milkman came by each day and picked up the cans to take them for processing. We used the […]
Jacob’s polygamy and subsequent favouring of Joseph, the son of his favourite wife, caused great turmoil in his family. Joseph’s ten older half-brothers resented him because dad always favoured him. Jacob even went so far as to give Joseph a special coat of honour. None of his brothers ever had such a coat. Because of […]
The Christian life is not a burden-free life. Christians get sick, get Covid, lose loved ones, suffer family problems, face work pressures, and have car troubles like everyone else. In fact, Christians carry the added burden of persecution. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2Ti 3:12) Christian leaders […]
At our last youth activity, I challenged the young people from (James 1:14-15) “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” I pointed out that we each have our […]
Reconciliation is re-establishing cordial relations. Jacob and Esau had a major falling out when Jacob deceived their father and stole the firstborn blessing. Esau hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. Jacob left the country. They never heard from each other for twenty years. During those long years, they had no inner peace nor outward […]