Joseph and Jacob Reunited

Transcript – Jacob And Joseph Reunited

The following content is from Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a gospel driven high adventure camp in western North Carolina. Go to SWoutfitters.com to learn more about our camps and conferences. Enjoy the message. Good morning. You guys doing well?

Alright, alright, alright. Hey, let’s go to Genesis 45, Genesis chapter 45. Man, I don’t know about y’all. I love the Joseph story. It’s such a wild story.

And it’s like the perfect length for us to dive into during this week. And man, I’ve grown so much just reading the story over the last few weeks. And man, I hope you guys too. I hope you guys take it home and go back and like reread it and reread it and remember it. So I wanted to start out with a story that I thought of just not long ago.

So I got three kids. One’s in high school, two are in middle school. And when they were real little, I don’t even know if my son was born yet. It might have just been my girls. I don’t know.

But they were like three or four maybe. And we’re in the grocery store. Just in town. So, okay, so when my kids were little, I would basically like, I’d hang out at camp here during the summer or whatever. We’d have worship service and then I’d go like, tell them goodnight and they’d go to bed and then I’d go back over to camp to hang out with students and youth pastors or whatever.

So we’re in the grocery store and it’s summertime and my kids and my daughters ask, Daddy, where do you go after we go to bed? Like we hear the door shut, where do you leave the house? Where do you go? I’m just telling a quick joke in the grocery store and I was like, I got real serious. And I said, Girls, I knew this day would come.

I need to tell you all something. Your dad is Batman. And they just kind of looked at me and I was like, and every night I leave the house and I go fight crime all throughout Andrews, you know, this tiny city. And they’re like, what? You know, they’re so, you know, when you’re little, you’re not super smart, you know, you believe anything.

And so they’re like, really? And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. And so I’m thinking, this is just a joke for the grocery store. Like, we’re done. I’m thinking that’s as far as it goes.

Well, then we moved from the produce section, like, to the dairy aisle, and they’re like, well, what kind of crime is there to fight in Andrews? And I’m like, well, you know, the penguin comes around occasionally and have to kind of go deeper into the lie than I had planned originally. And it just kind of keeps going. Well, the next morning, they wake up, and they’re like, so where, where’s the bat cave? And I’m like, I’m like, uh-oh.

They actually really, really believe this and I didn’t plan this out, you know? And so I’m like, well, you know, it’s a, and I kind of keep going too far and I, and like, I’m like, you know, it’s on the side of the hill. I don’t want to tell y’all too much. And then the next day and the next day and the next day to where we’re two weeks into this thing and I realize I’m showing them pictures of like the Batmobile on Google Images and man, like, I finally, I sit down with Amy, my wife, on the couch one night and I’m like, I think I’m gonna have to like have a sit down talk with my girls and tell them, I’m not actually Batman, which is a talk I never thought I would have to have as a dad. And so the next night, I sit my girls down and I’m like, Hey, just something silly, but I just wanted to, you remember like a couple weeks ago when I was telling y’all that I’m Batman?

Well, you know, I’m not, I’m not actually Batman. And I mean, it was like, it broke their heart. It was almost like I’d slapped their mom or something in front of them. They both were like, ah. And my oldest daughter said, I thought you were so cool.

And I just remember being like, oh my gosh. Just because like, I mean, I had broke her tiny little heart because I wasn’t, you know, the Cape Crusader. And I thought of that story. You know how your brain works in weird ways? I thought of that story because I’m preaching on this bit right here about Joseph and the brothers because like there’s– we’ve seen such great reconciliation.

That story last night– that’s my favorite sermon of the week last night when Judah is coming in and he’s changed from being the man he was to all of a sudden he’s like, no, take me. Take me instead of Benjamin. It’s just such a beautiful story and everything. The reconciliation where Joseph, you know, he’s all in Egyptian garb and he all of a sudden breaks out in his– you know, his homeland. He’s like, guys, it’s me, it’s me.

And they hug or whatever. But there’s a little like flag on the play when, I don’t know if you caught the phrase where Joseph’s like, it’s me, Joseph. Is my dad still alive? That’s the phrase that like in the pit of your stomach you’re like, oh gosh, the dad. Because there’s this whole big lie that the brothers have been telling that now they got to come clean on because the dad for over 20 years has been I mean, they’ve been lying straight for 20 years about Joseph’s death and the dad, they still got to come clean to the dad back home.

I mean, that just, it like, you’re not feeling in the pit of your stomach when you’ve been caught in a lie or you’ve been caught doing something bad and you’re just like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. That’s the feeling I get as soon as Joseph asks, Hey, is dad still alive? So here’s what I want to do. You know how you’re watching a show, like an ongoing show like the Mandalorian or something like that, and they’re like, they pause in the story. And they go back and give you a prequel, like a backstory for one of the characters.

And then you got so much more context when you come back in the story. That’s what I want to do this morning. I want to pause in the story and I want to rewind all the way back to Jacob’s story, the dad, because that his story, we got to understand his story before we can understand this reunion between the dad and Joseph and this whole lion scheme that’s gone on for 20 years. So I want to dive into Jacob’s story. And when you think of Jacob, not Joseph, when you think of the dad, the word I want you to think about Jacob is wrestler.

Like wrestling, striving, fighting. Because Jacob, his whole life is characterized with striving and wrestling and trying to like get ahead. He’s trying to get ahead of his brothers. He’s trying to get ahead, get more money. He’s always striving.

In fact, do you know Jacob is born a twin? He’s got a twin brother. Y’all know who Jacob’s twin brother is? Esau. Yeah, yeah.

So Esau is like this super hairy outdoorsman kind of guy. I don’t, the Bible keeps mentioning how hairy he was. I don’t know how hairy, but probably really hairy. Anyway, so they’re born, but what’s crazy is when they’re born, Esau is coming out first, but Jacob is born grabbing his brother’s heel. Like as his older brother comes out, he’s wrestling from the beginning.

He’s striving, trying to get ahead, trying to, and they named Jacob, the name Jacob means heel grabber. Which is a great name, Heel Grabber, but it actually is like a synonym for cheater later on because Jacob’s whole life, he’s a cheater. He’s trying to get ahead. Y’all remember Esau comes in all hungry that one day from hunting and Jacob’s like, Hey, I’ll give you this food, man, if you give me, you know, the birthright, all the money that’s supposed to be coming in from dad. If you give me that, I’ll give you this.

Man, you sure do look hungry and he’s just cheating and y’all remember that story? He’s always cheating, trying to get ahead. And then he goes beyond that. And basically when his dad’s dying, Jacob goes in and puts goat skins on his arms so he feels hairy like his brother. And he goes into his dad and like says, oh, it’s me, it’s me.

I’m here to get the blessing. And he gets the blessing from his dad over his brother. I mean, he has always been a cheater, always striving, always heel grabbing, always wrestling, trying to get ahead, trying to get ahead. All right, so. It comes back to bite him in the butt because basically Esau has been cheated twice now and he’s like, you know what?

As soon as dad dies, I’m gonna murder you. I am going to kill you. And Jacob’s like, shoot. And so Jacob goes on the run and basically you can read the story in Genesis but it’s years and years of him just wrestling and striving and tricking his family and then getting tricked by his family and he’s trying to get ahead and basically during this time when he’s on the run, God appears to Jacob and God says, hey, This blessing that’s come to Abraham where I’m gonna give you a land. I’m gonna give you people.

I’m gonna give you a blessing that’s come down to Isaac, your dad, and now that’s coming to you, Jacob. You’re getting that blessing. And Jacob vows to follow the Lord, but it’s like he’s trying to wrestle with God. And he’s like, okay, all right, all right. I will follow you as long as you give me clothes, as long as you give me food.

He’s trying to, like, wrestle with God, which is crazy. All right, so we’ll pick up the story and basically his story reaches a climax where Jacob’s, he’s gotten this blessing from God, he’s gonna come back home and basically as he’s coming back home he’s a little worried because the last he heard Esau was gonna murder him and so he basically sends some messengers over to check out the scene and they say, oh yeah, Esau heard you’re coming and he’s bringing 400 guys to come meet you. And so Jacob’s like, Shoot, alright, alright, shoot, alright. Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. And Jacob basically, he’s still striving, he’s still wrestling, and he’s like, here’s what we’re gonna do.

We’re gonna send gifts ahead. And so he basically sends these waves of gifts. He’s got like donkeys and camels, and he’s like, alright, wave one, I want y’all to go meet Esau, alright. We’re gonna soften the blow. And then wave two, y’all ready?

Y’all got Starbucks gift cards, y’all got McFlurries, alright, y’all ready, ready, ready to go, alright, y’all meet him. And so basically everything He is building up to this moment where he’s gonna meet back up with Esau. Okay, so he sends all these waves of gifts ahead and Jacob camps out for this one last night. He’s got his family behind him, Esau in front of him, and he camps out on this little mound. And he’s all alone, he’s in the dark, and he’s been wrestling his whole life.

And he’s about to settle down for bed. Do y’all know this story? This is the wildest story in Jacob’s life. All of a sudden, in the dark, a man appears. And you might think for a minute that it’s Esau, but it’s not.

And this guy all of a sudden just, pow! He hits Jacob and wrestles him to the ground. And he and Jacob just tangle up and just start wrestling. I mean, Jacob’s fighting for his life all night. And basically, as the sun’s rising, he’s thinking, who is this guy?

Who is this? He’s wrestling, he’s at the end of his strength. He’s just hanging on to this guy. And it’s like this guy goes, all right we’re done here and he reaches out his hand and goes, bink! and just touches Jacob’s hip and his whole hip comes out of socket and he’s just like, just in excruciating pain but he’s also like, who are you?

How can you have that much power? What did you just do to me? And he realizes the whole night he’s not been wrestling with just some guy. Some guy can’t just do that. He’s been wrestling with God himself who’s come down in human form and is wrestling with Jacob.

And it’s the wildest story because you realize it’s kind of like a metaphor. It’s a parable of his whole life. Jacob’s whole life, he’s actually been wrestling with God. All right? He’s been striving.

He’s been striving over birthrights and over money and over Esau and over his uncle and over wives. But his problem hadn’t been birthrights and wives. His problem has been trusting God. And basically God brings him to the end of his strength and then shows, nope, I’m more powerful. Bink!

And just dislocates his hip. Why? I think partially he’s showing Jacob, I’m totally in control and totally have all power. But I think he also dislocates Jacob’s hip because he’s fixing to go meet Esau and now he can’t run, he can’t wrestle, he can’t strive. He’s just got to trust God.

And it is a huge turning point in Jacob’s life. All of Jacob’s life, he’s been a wrestler and a striver, and now he’s a limper. Now he walks with a limp for the rest of his life, but he changes. From this point forward, he starts trusting God instead of wrestling against God. And God renames him Israel.

Y’all have heard that name. It’s the name of the nation. But he renames him Israel, which means God wrestles, that God’s gonna be fighting and Jacob’s gotta trust. All right, so that’s the backstory we need as we come back in. We gotta think of Jacob, the dad who’s been lied to all this time.

We gotta think of him as this old wrestler, this old striver who’s learned to trust now years ago who walks with a limp, this Israel God wrestles. So terrible things happen from this point in Jacob’s story, one of which is his son gets murdered by a wild animal, ripped to pieces. Or so he thinks. Alright? That’s where he pick up the story.

The brothers have this great reunion, this great moment, and Joseph’s like, oh, it’s me, Joseph. Hey, his dad’s still alive. And it’s like, oh gosh, yeah, yeah, dad, dad, yeah. He is still alive. And Joseph’s like, Great, bring him over.

We’re gonna bring the whole family into Egypt, ’cause there is a famine and we gotta, we gotta survive. Y’all following the story? Okay, great. So he’s like, I’m gonna send all these wagons. I want you to go all the way to the Promised Land.

I want you to scoop up dad, scoop up everybody. I want you to bring them all the way back to Egypt and we’re gonna survive this thing. And so they load up all these wagons and they’re heading back to go get the wrestler, to go get their dad Jacob. Chapter 45, look at verse 25. So they went up out of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob.

All right, here’s the moment. Their bellies have been rolling, you know, there’s like, oh gosh, we got to tell them, we got to tell them. Here’s the moment, it says, and they told him, Joseph is still alive and he’s the ruler over the whole land of Egypt and Jacob’s heart became numb because he didn’t believe him. Why didn’t he believe them? I think, obviously, He’s believed one thing for 20 plus years, but he’s also coming to grips.

His heart became numb. He’s coming to grips with what that means. Joseph is alive, which means all 10 of y’all been lying to me for 20 years. Y’all watch me crying. Every time I’ve mentioned Joseph, you guys have lied to me.

Like you didn’t just bring about the worst day of my life. It’s the sorrow of my last 20, He’s coming to grips with all of this and here’s the question. Is he gonna forgive his boys? We’re gonna see.

Chapter, I’m sorry, verse 27. But when they told him all of the words of Joseph, which he had said to him, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived, and Israel said, it’s enough. Joseph, my son, is still alive. I’m gonna go see him before I die. So he sees the wagons, he hears the words that Joseph has said and he believes.

And now the wrestler is gonna put away his wrestling, he’s gonna step out in faith, and he’s basically, he’s like, I’m gonna uproot my whole crew and we’re gonna go see Joseph, and in his mind, I’m gonna see him and then I’m gonna die. I’m just gonna get to see him and I’m gonna die. And man, this is such faith because up until now, Israel, Jacob, he’s only heard promises that haven’t come true yet. It’s all unfulfilled promises, but now he’s still gonna trust God and step out in faith. Look at chapter 46, verse 1.

So Israel took his journey with everything that he had and he came to Beersheba. Now Beersheba is like a stop along the way, not quite the halfway point. And he offers sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am.

Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be scared to go down to Egypt. Because there I will make you into a great nation and I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I’ll bring you up again and Joseph’s hand will close your eyes. It’s beautiful. But I think it’s important for us to see that Jacob is actually anxious about going to Egypt.

He’s scared to go. He’s probably tempted to go back into wrestling mode. All right, I’m gonna send Joseph some gifts. I’m gonna send Pharaoh some gifts. I’m gonna make sure we get ahead.

But here you can see basically he’s not wrestling with God anymore. He’s gonna just trust. He’s gonna trust that promise. And it’s a crazy thing for God to ask of Jacob. Here’s the promise.

Hey Jacob, you’re gonna live right here in the Promised Land and I’m gonna make you into a great nation. So I want you to leave this Promised Land. I want you to go to one of your enemies, you know, Egypt. I want you to leave the Promised Land. I want you to go over here and just root yourself there.

And I want you to believe I’m gonna put you back in the Promised Land. It’s just a crazy thing to ask because at this point the nation doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. Obviously they’re leaving the promised land. Their lives are threatened by famine and y’all know their story is just like violence and intermarriage and it just seems like the whole nation is falling apart. It’s a huge thing to ask but Jacob steps out in faith.

He’s not wrestling, he’s limping and they’re heading out. It says basically Jacob uproots 70 people overall. It’s all of his grandkids, all of his stuff, everything. They’re heading into Egypt and Here’s the moment. Jacob’s finally gonna get to see his boy, his favorite son.

I mean, they spent 17 years together. It was his favorite son, 17 years. They probably had the best relationship, a close relationship, but now they’ve been separated for over 20 years. They’re both probably just so, so excited for this reunion. Look at verse 28 of chapter 46.

Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen, here it is. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen. And he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, now let me die.

I’ve seen your face and I know that you’re still alive. I mean that is such a beautiful moment. Can you imagine for Jacob when he sees this Egyptian riding up on this Egyptian chariot and he’s a ruler, he’s got his entourage, and they just hold each other and hug and cry and it’s like I can die happy now. And it’s a beautiful scene until you realize the brothers. All 10 of these guys are sitting there going shoot oh crap okay alright alright so we ruined your life so that’s clear we also ruined your life and now you two guys are together so Okay, great.

So you’re the most powerful man in the world. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Alright, and you’re the most important man in our life. So I guess we’re dead now. You know, but like, remember these guys, they’re changed men and Joseph had given them promises, but like, can you imagine what these guys are feeling?

They gotta be feeling such guilt. It’s a clash of two people whose lives they had ruined in a sense. What’s gonna happen with the brothers? As you read on, it’s one of the most amazing things in the story is you realize that both Jacob and Joseph have decided to move on. Why?

You think about it, these two men have been betrayed on a level none of us will ever feel. I mean, all of us have been wronged, right? All of us have been lied to, not on this level. None of us have been literally enslaved. None of us have had lies repeated for 20 long years about the death of one of our family members.

You think we’ve never been wronged on a level that these two men have been wronged and instead of vengeance, they offer forgiveness, which is just beautiful and it’s something for us to keep in mind because these guys, they’re not taking revenge, they’re offering forgiveness. And what’s crazy about this story, if you dig deep back at home, go back and read it, you’ll see they go beyond forgiveness. Both of these men work for the betterment of those that had wronged them. They start working for their good. Joseph starts working for his brothers good, which is wild.

After slavery, after prison, you think he’d be like, y’all just wait, soon as dad dies. But man, he’s starting to up their position. I’m gonna get my brothers money, I’m gonna give them safety. And we see that God’s at work in this. God is preserving these brothers.

Now, basically, I don’t have time to go into it, but if you look in chapter 46, start of 47, you’ll see that Joseph Man, he hatches this genius plan to take care of God’s people. He basically like pre settles them in the best land there is in Egypt. And he goes to Pharaoh’s like, hey, my guys are already settled in Egypt. And also they’re shepherds, by the way. And, you know, Egyptians hated shepherds.

So basically Pharaoh’s like, okay, y’all can keep that best land. Y’all can keep being shepherds. What God’s doing is God is prepping a place in Egypt where they can be a nation. Where they can grow into the nation of Israel. Basically, it’s crazy because later on, y’all know fast forward, they get enslaved by Egypt, right?

Later on. And later on, God saves them from Egypt. But right now, he’s saving them through Egypt. He’s using Egypt to preserve a people, a quiet place where they can grow. And Joseph is such a genius in the way he makes this happen.

All right, let me skip down. Chapter 47, verse 7. The brothers have already appeared before Pharaoh. Pharaoh is granted the best land. And then there’s a crazy scene where Jacob limps in to Pharaoh’s place.

It’s a wild scene because you’ve got this old wrestler coming in. Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father. And stood him before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Man, that’s a crazy scene. And it’s funny because you got this old wrestler who limps in, this old trickster who’s basically now standing before the two most powerful men in the world and one is his son.

He’s got to be so proud of his son but on the flip side you got to be thinking, Jacob, he’s thinking, oh man, God did it. God’s got this. God really does keep his promises. What’s going through his mind has got to be, man, God did what all my wrestling couldn’t. All my striving, all my wrestling.

Man, last week Jacob was starving. This week he’s standing before the two most powerful men in the world. God keeps his promises. Now, we’ll see in the story, or you can read about it in the story, man, Egypt gets richer and richer and richer as Joseph keeps acting wiser and wiser. Basically, when they run out out of money, Joseph’s like, that’s cool, man.

Y’all can trade in your cows for food and they trade in their cows. When they run out of cows, he’s like, that’s cool. Y’all can trade in your land for food and they trade in their land and Egypt’s getting richer and richer and richer and richer and richer. And he’s like, they run out of land and he’s like, that’s cool. Y’all can just work for us for food and basically sets up this taxation system where Egypt just gets richer and richer and richer and God’s people do better and better and better.

And man, he’s, God’s at work. He’s saving a people. They’ve grown into a great nation just like God promised. This is God’s plan to keep a promise. Verse 29.

Let’s go to verse 27-28 actually. Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, the land of Goshen. They gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. That’s crazy. It’s famine time.

And Jacob lived, this is a beautiful verse. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life were 147. How long did Jacob and Joseph have together at the front? How old was Joseph when he went into slavery?

17. So they had 17 years at the front. How many years at the end did they have together? 17 years. Man, it’s so beautiful.

Like God’s just mirroring this. He thought, I’m gonna see Joseph and die. He’s gonna close my eyes. But they have 17 years together playing with grandbabies. Of sharing stories.

How did this happen? I mean, God is faithful. God is faithful. Now, verse 29, when the time grew near that Israel, Jacob, must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, now, if I found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Don’t bury me in Egypt.

Let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. And he answered, I’ll do like you said. And he said, swear it to me and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.

All right, let me ask you a question. Why did Jacob, why did it matter to Jacob that he’s buried not in Egypt but in Israel? I mean, it’s just bones. He knows his soul’s gonna be with God. I think it’s trust.

He believes so strongly God keeps his promises. Hey, take my bones into the promised land. That’s where we’re gonna be. I believe God. Trust and it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful end of the story.

So let me just pull out a couple things that we can learn from this part of the story. All right, there’s a crazy part of the story. Just pull out a couple things we can learn. Number one, Jacob and Joseph are both wronged, but they don’t hold grudges. They’ve had their lives ruined in a sense by these 10 guys, but they don’t stay offended.

How did they, man, Not only do they not stay offended, they work for the betterment of these guys. They make them rich, they make them protected. How did they do this? How did they let it go? Here’s what I want us to get and I need to get.

Trust in God is the remedy for bitterness. Trust in God is the remedy for bitterness. Here’s the reality. You are going to be wronged. In your life, you will be wronged.

That’s part of the human experience. And most people walking around are walking around holding grudges. Most people walking around are bitter towards somebody. Here’s the deal. You don’t have to hold grudges.

For these guys, the reason they were able to let this go is because they believed that God was bigger than this betrayal. You know what I’m saying? They trusted. And y’all can trust too that God is bigger than any betrayal that you’ve experienced. You don’t have to lose hope in suffering.

You don’t have to hold grudges when you’re wronged. He can restore broken families. He can use you. To do it. The second thing I think we ought to get out of this is that Jacob and Joseph, they really actually trust God in the worst situations.

Most of us say we trust God. Most are like, well, I’m just gonna trust God in this. They don’t just trust God. They have confidence that God’s got this. God’s got this.

And they weren’t born trusting God. They learned it. Here’s where I want to dive in real quick. Think about how they learned how to trust God. They learned in very different ways.

Jacob first. Think about Jacob. His struggles are all inside, right? He’s been striving since birth. He’s a do-it-yourself kind of man.

It’s hard for him to trust God and so he has to learn the hard way.

One of our main problems in our lives is that we often fight with God instead of trusting him. Man, why God give me the family that I got? Why didn’t God give me that talent or this money? I think Jacob did the same thing. His whole life he’s striving and fighting, but his problem’s not Esau or not birthrights, his problem is trusting God.

At the core, most of our problems aren’t talent or money or family. Most of our problems are centered around we don’t trust God, so we wrestle. Wrestling with God holds grudges. Wrestling with God loses hope, but trust in God brings about hope greater than our life circumstance. In the end, Jacob learns to trust God instead of wrestle.

Look at Joseph. Jacob’s struggles were inside. He caused them. Joseph’s struggles were outside. Bad stuff kept happening to him.

But he is steadily trusting God even in the worst. I mean, really putting his confidence in God even in the worst situations. How did he learn that? I think he learned the easy way. Men, don’t think that for years He’s like, Dad, why you walk with that limp?

Why are you limping around? And he’s like, oh, let me tell you the story again. You see, I used to wrestle against God, but I learned to trust him. He wounded me. He hurt me so that I would have to trust him.

Joseph, hey, just trust God. I think those lessons, he learned them the easy way. And when he got in the pit, he’s hearing his dad say, just trust God. Just trust God. God’s at work.

God keeps his promises. He learned the easy way, and he obeyed when it didn’t make sense because he trusted that God was with him. Here’s the takeaway for us from these stories. These two men, I think. The reason they forgive, the reason they obey is that they really trust God.

We can do that too. God is at work now. He’s trustworthy. Last verse, Romans 8, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those that are called according to His purpose. I think the moral of this story isn’t just Do better guys.

Trust God more. I think what we need to see, because remember there’s hints of Jesus all throughout this story. Right? When we, when we’re seeing this story, we shouldn’t just think about Joseph forgiving his brothers. I think we should see ourselves in the story and think, oh gosh, Christ forgave us.

When we had wronged him for years and years, he forgave us. And then now this verse is saying that all things are working together for good. Like he’s gone beyond forgiveness to start working Shoot, we’re the brothers in this story. Like, my gosh, he’s at work. We can trust him.

We can hang on to these promises just like Jacob hung on to these promises. We can let go of bitterness just like these guys did because God is at work and through Christ he is working all things for good for us. God’s got this. He’s good. He loves you and he’s at work.

Thanks for listening. We hope this has encouraged you in your walk with Christ. Be sure to give us a rating and review and for more Snowbird content, check out our other podcast, no Sanity Required.