Genesis 39:1-41:16, Matthew 12:46-13:23, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 3:33-35
Today is January 19th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today from the rolling hills of Tennessee. The global campfire is roaring as always. Nice steamy cup of Wind Farm coffee to my left, all the preflight checks are done, and we are ready to launch into the next day. So, we will pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week and that we have begun to follow the story of Joseph in our Old Testament reading from the book of Genesis. And the story of Joseph imitates our lives on so many levels, especially when we feel like we are experiencing some sort of injustice or hardship. And, so we will track with that story as we move through it over the next few days. Today, Genesis chapter 39 verse 1 through 41 verse 16.
Commentary:
Alright, let’s talk about Joseph for a minute. So, Joseph is Jacob’s son by his beloved wife Rachel. Of course, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. So, Joseph is one of the first children of Israel. And Joseph has a brother, a younger brother, named Benjamin, and this is his only full brother. His other brothers are from different mothers. So, they’re his half-brothers. But Jacob, or Israel, is the father of all of them, all 12 of them. So, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. And, so, Joseph and Benjamin are all that Jacob has to remember the wife that he loved. So, he loved Joseph, and he favored Joseph, which made a bunch of jealousy among the other brothers. So, we know how the story goes. Joseph has these dreams that just inflames the matter. And, finally, Joseph is coming to see his brothers to report back to his father how they’re doing. And they human traffic their own brother into slavery. Okay. So, terribly unjust. An injustice has been done to Joseph. And on his trip down to Egypt he has every reason to be bitter, angry, angry at his family, angry at God, angry at everything. When he gets to Egypt he’s sold as a slave. So, Joseph becomes the slave of Potiphar. And, so, rather than brooding and being angry and being divisive and trying to escape, Joseph simply trusts God and does his best where he’s at, which, fairly, quickly, puts Joseph in charge of everything that Potiphar owns. So, not a life of freedom, definitely he’s a slave, but he has a lot of freedom, and he’s in charge of a lot, and he has a lot of influence. So, maybe he can make that work, except Potiphar’s wife wants Joseph. So, he’s a young, good-looking, well-built man. She sees this opportunity and she wants him, but he won’t sleep with her. So, he’s subsequently, falsely accused, and he goes from being a slave to being a prisoner in a dungeon. So, Joseph is doing everything right and things are only getting worse and that might sound familiar. You may have walked through seasons that felt like that. So, we have to ask ourselves, what is our response more in a season like that? Are we yelling at God and shaking our fists and jumping up and down and flailing around and trying to figure out in our own strength how were going to make this work out in our favor? That’s just not what Joseph…that’s just not how he responded. He kept a cool head in all of these circumstances that were pretty dire and completely unfair and he did not waver in his trust for God. Even in the injustice, his allegiance to God was unwavering and it gives us some things to think about. This story isn’t over. We have plenty to read in it and there’s plenty of drama out in front of us. But right now, we can see that Joseph’s response to complete injustice, like over the top injustice, is that his faith in God is unwavering and we’ll see where that road leads over the coming days.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. And we thank You how every day, it brings up something in us. It gives us plenty to think about, plenty to learn, and we are. We are we are learning, we are drinking it up, and we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue just to till the soil of our hearts and plant Your word in it so that a vast crop of the fruit of the Spirit comes spilling out of our lives. And may what You are planting inside of us yield a hundredfold return for Your kingdom. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi. This is God’s Precious Gem in New Jersey. I’m just reaching out. This is the first time. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible about four months now. And I feel like it was time to reach out for prayer for my daughter. She’s been battling mental illness for a few years and she…my brother passed earlier last year…and she’s been spiraling down since that time and going as far as walking into the woods and falling asleep, then being picked up by the police with hypothermia. Anyway, she’s been having these really bad episodes. Finally, I had to do an intervention and have her picked up. And she was taken for an assessment and put on medication, but it’s having a weird effect on her. I pray for her every day but she started stealing from me, she said she cannot go outside because there’s too many people. She grew up in church but no longer goes. She says she’s __ or psychic and has all these weird beliefs, and that she hears all the voices in the world, people’s minds and thoughts. So, I’m asking for prayer for her because I feel like I can’t do this alone. Like I said, she started stealing from me now and she said she can eat regular food, just like boxed frozen foods. The medication is having a weird effect on her. I appreciate all of you and I pray along with you in the mornings after listening to the…you know…the readings and then the requests. I love the teaching. Thank you so much Brian. May God bless you. May He multiply all that you have and bless your family and children. I love you and just want to thank you. God bless you all. Bye.
Hey everybody. This is Pelham in Birmingham or Addicted to Christ. I was just calling to catch everybody up. The food truck suddenly closed and just blessed with finding a job quickly. The pay is much less. Not going to be able…no going…the budgets not working for the bills as the way they were when I was on a successful…a very successful business, but I been given a good position and things are going well but I’m…it’s a struggle…and you know…I’m calling in because the Scripture I was reading, ‘be alert in your sober mind because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.’ And as soon as I heard those words, all of you all came into my mind, like points of light across the world, and the sudden need to call and tell you all that I need help, that the Morris family needs prayer, that I need strength and wisdom and I need…I just need prayer…we need prayer here. My coworker Mary needs prayer. Her sister passed and she’s been having a hard time, her name, I can’t remember her name, and my other coworker, Lori, has a girlfriend, Amy. Amy needs prayer. So, anyway, I was just calling to catch you all about how things are going. I love you all and stay in the word. And I’m listening. I’m out here.
Hi beautiful DAB family this is Sonja from Tampa. I guess some calling a little bit more, well, I very seldom call, actually, but I wanted to thank all the beautiful people that are praying for my son Nathan whose 30 and is quite depressed. The response was unbelievable and I was so moved by my family, my extended family, that I just needed to call and just thank you so much for your kindness and your prayers. May God continue to bless this ministry. And I’m so glad that I finally took the time to give to this ministry and for those that haven’t, I beg of you to please give. It’s amazing what this community is doing. Thank you, Brian, and Jill, and China and everyone else. Love you and God bless you.
Father God, thank You for this new day. Thank You for what You’ve laid out for us. I pray Lord, that You’d be guiding our feet and guarding our footsteps where You’d want us to go. Father God there are many things in our lives that stress us out that are sources of anxiety and panic to us Lord. To some of us Lord it’s our workplace and what goes on at work and I pray. I lift up, Lord, I lift up our places of work to You and I commit those places to You. Thank You for those that are in employment Lord we thank You for what we have there. Also Lord, thank You for the opportunities we have to be shining lights in these places Lord. Father God, I pray that You would go before us each and every day into our workplace and just prepare that day for us, that would be able to be a blessing to our work colleagues, and allow them to be a blessing to us in turn. Father God, help us fix our eyes on You so when were faced with that daunting task or that daunting situation that we are really not looking forward to, we can see You in it, and You can guide us through it and break it down into something more manageable. Father God, You are so Sovereign, You are Lord, You love us, and You don’t give us anything that we can’t do. I pray Lord that You give us what we need to face this day and that we will be able to trust and rely on You. In Jesus name. Amen. Beloved by Him. __ . It’s Monday, 15th of January and, thank you guys you are all awesome, thank you so much for your prayers and your comments. It’s awesome being part of this community. Hope you have a blessed day wherever you are. Bye.
Yes. This is Sue calling from Kansas. I have a prayer request and a thankfulness. I have just started listening since the new year and so appreciate Brian’s strength and sensitivity in reading the Bible to us all. I love to listen and I appreciate the comments Brian gives at the end. I think they are excellent. I look forward, enjoy, and benefit a lot from the reading each day. The prayer request I have is from me and my ex-husband. I had to get away from my husband a year ago because he was always getting destroyed emotionally due to verbal battering. He divorced me and now I live in his old house that was awarded in the divorce. Please pray for me that my focus would be on Jesus and His life instead of my ex-husband in the memory of the hurtful destructive things he said and did. I forgive with my will every time I think of him and gradually the pain and disappointment is getting less and less. I’m beginning to understand why God allowed him in my life. I’ve had a bad habit in the past of resenting and not forgiving people. God has shown me where that was taking me. I realize my ex-husband nursed his resentment and hatred of people and God in the past to the point that his heart was full of hatred and meanness. He was a very unhappy person. That is where I was headed. Now I’m trying, every day without the Scripture, to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of my mind. So, I with the help of the Holy Spirit in Scripture will prove how good, acceptable, and perfect the word of God is. Please pray for me that God will do a wonderful work in my heart and mind so instead of having defeated thinking I can see in the years to come an eternity that no good thing will He withhold from me as I walk uprightly. Please pray for my ex-husband too, that he will listen to the Daily Audio Bible and will realize his error and get sick and tired of having a hateful meaning heart.