Stunned and Sobbing

O.T.#96  "Stunned and Sobbing"
July 31, 2013
Genesis 45-Part 1
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.  Genesis 45:3

LET IT GLOW

I couldn't take any more. I broke down and sobbed. The year of 1997 was the hardest I had ever lived through. What happened? We moved to a new church and parsonage, our daughter got married a week after graduating college, my mother died suddenly, and my mother in law was dying of cancer, which happened less than a year after Mom. I couldn't take any more, but didn't have to. Was Joseph at that point, too?

When Joseph's silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack of grain, his brothers came back to intercede for baby brother Ben. These guys had been guilty of getting rid of one brother, and they didn't want to be guilty of the same thing, murder. They knew it would be too much for their father to endure another son's death and he would die. Judah did the talking to Joseph, who was second in command in all of Egypt.

How does chapter 45 start out? Joseph could not control his emotions and cried. He had tested his brothers to see if they had a change of heart after 22 years. Joseph sent his attendants out of the room. He needed some privacy to be with his brothers. Joseph cried in verses 1, 2, 14, and 15. The Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard poor Joseph wail. He broke down.

His great emotion showed Joseph didn't cruelly manipulate his brothers. He was directed by God to make these arrangements and it hurt him to do it. (Guzik)

Have you ever been at that breaking point? Where do you turn for comfort? Jesus is there waiting with open arms.

LET IT GROW

In verse 3, Joseph told his brothers, I am Joseph! Is my father still living?

How did the brothers respond? NIV says, But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.

King James Version uses the word troubled, which means trembled inwardly; be alarmed, anxious.
Were they shaking in their boots, so to speak? Joseph knew how badly they had treated him, sold him into slavery, almost killed him by leaving him in a pit. The family secrets were known by the second most powerful man in the world. They were at his mercy. What would happen to them?

Joseph's revelation of himself brought his brothers terror, for they fully expected him to judge them for their past sins. but he had seen their repentance; they had bowed before him; and he knew he could forgive them. God had sent him before to save their lives. (Wiersbe)

Stunned by the revelation of who it really was with whom they dealt, the brothers then heard expressed a masterpiece of recognition of and submission to the sovereignty of God, His providential rule over the affairs of life, both good and bad.  (MacArthur)

I think we will be stunned whenever we stand before our Holy God and bow before Jesus and proclaim Him as the Only Lord and Savior.

LET IT GO

Confess my sins daily; ask Jesus and others to forgive me.

Bow before Jesus as I pray.

Stand in awe of the awesome God.