Genesis 47:13-48:22
Maybe I’m just feeling a bit cranky this morning but I must admit I’m not an absolute fan of Joseph. I know he credits God with his arrival and elevation in Egypt but I can’t bring myself to believe that he was right to enslave all the people of Egypt. If God sent Joseph to Egypt to protect the people of the land from the famine, was he really correct to buy them all into bitter slavery to their ruler? Indeed we know he didn't have to do it - it was quite within his power to provide people with food free of charge as he did with the priests. Perhaps Joseph just let his commercial instincts and his environment cloud some of his judgements? And that is why I love Jacob’s hand-switching trick so much. Yes, he was half dead and yes, he was completely in debt to his son, but yet he would not let worldly power and influence corrupt his intentions or play against the contrary desire of God to bless the younger over and above the elder. God does not kowtow to anyone. His hand cannot be moved from one head to another. Jacob got this. I just hope that Joseph, despite his whole world crying out to him otherwise, was really able to cling onto the truth that God is the Lord, and there is no other.
Matthew 16:21-17:13
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” I must confess I have not yet nailed my understanding of exactly how this statement of Jesus fits together with the thrust of grace and forgiveness that undergirds the gospel. I’m not saying I think it contradicts it - definitely not. But I do think there is an interesting web of truths around salvation and the return of Jesus that I have not pressed in to sufficiently. I do know that the grace and forgiveness of Jesus fully covers all of my sins, even those of omission, and which causes me to appear before the Father as entirely holy and blameless. But I also see here that there is an element in which my activity and my actions are examined and rewarded by Jesus. I know that I don’t have to fully understand how this all works but I do want to. I guess where I’ve got to thus far is an appreciation that while Jesus comes to cleanse and redeem, his activity does not end there. He issues to us a call that is real and which must be responded to by a change in lifestyle and of priorities.
Proverbs 3:1-10
Having acknowledged above that there are bits about Jesus that I can’t quite get my head around, it’s pretty encouraging to now read that I do not need to lean on my own understanding but can just trust in the Lord. I can be certain that my attempts at obedience and worship will be sen by him and will fare me well in the end, even if there is confusion or hardship along the way.
