Today’s Reading Genesis 43-45
Focal Scripture: Genesis 43:31 “Then he washed his face and came out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”
Sometimes we face extremely difficult situations. These situations can often knock us down and cause much pain in our lives. The key is to understand that showing your emotions and being rattled for a moment is ok. The problem that most people have is that when they get rattled they never recover.
Here we have Joseph who has seen his brothers for the first time since they put him in a pit and sold him into slavery. He sent them back home and demands that they bring the youngest brother back with them. Benjamin was the only brother who was not involved in the scheme and the plan to sell him into slavery. When he sees Benjamin he is overcome with emotion. He leaves the room, goes off into a secluded area and weeps. However, he regains his composure because that is what good leaders do when life gets difficult.
The bible tells us that he wept, washed his face, regained his composure and led as was expected of him. Joseph did not let emotion dictate his life nor his decisions. Remember, he did allow his emotions to be released but handled it well.
We can learn a lot from this in our own lives. We know that we will face many difficult circumstances as we live this life. We will face health difficulties that can overwhelm us and seem like they will never end. We can face the challenge of dealing with the death of a loved one. We can even lose everything we think is important to us in this life.
What we need to remember is that as believers the worst thing that can happen to us in this life does not compare to the glory we shall see when we get to heaven. Our present problems are nothing compared to our God. So when life becomes difficult this is what we can do.
Weep, wash our face, get up, regain our composure and then go lead. Our families, friends, and faith family need us to be faithful and demonstrate that on a daily basis.
Tomorrow I plan to read Genesis 46-48
