The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 19 November 2020 – A Righteous Petition
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Topic: A Righteous Petition
Read: Genesis 47:1-12 (NKJV)
- Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they [are] in the land of Goshen.”
- And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.
- Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What [is] your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants [are] shepherds, both we [and] also our fathers.”
- And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine [is] severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
- Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
- “The land of Egypt [is] before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know [any] competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”
- Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
- Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old [are] you?”
- And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage [are] one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
- So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
- And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
- Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in [their] families.
THE MESSAGE:
We read from our text how Joseph led his brethren to king Pharaoh of Egypt with the request, “Let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen” (verse 4). This request was borne out of the dire need for food, pasture and general comfort of Joseph’s brethren and their flock who were driven by famine out of the land of Canaan. Recall that Joseph’s brethren mentioned here, (excluding his father, Jacob and younger brother, Benjamin), were those who conspired to kill him but who ended up selling him out as a slave (Genesis 37:17-28).
Humanly speaking, Joseph ought to have sought the comfort of only his father and younger brother, but he chose to do as God commanded: “bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Luke 6:28)- Joseph gave his brethren comfort. Perhaps what helped Joseph act this way is what he told his brethren, “but as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20a). Have you been ill-treated, hurt, betrayed, cheated, despised or jilted? It is working out for your good. Dare to make the righteous petition, not for those “enemies” to die, but for God to bless them and you will see the healer manifest to heal you and put smiles on your face.
PRAYER: Ask for grace to always pray for your enemies and to do good to them.
