01/22/2019 DAB Transcript

Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13–36, Psalms 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13

Today is the 22nd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s always a pleasure to come back around the global campfire and come in out of the dark and come in out of the cold and just sit and let God’s word wash over us. It’s always a joy. So, let’s take that next step. We’ve been tracking along with the story of Joseph and we’ll pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 44 and 45 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we are nearing the end of our time with Joseph and we’ve been following his story and we have a lot of the detail of his story, so we can really get into the texture of it. And we see in the story of Joseph, a young man whose life, in a lot of ways was stolen from him, a young man who has or would’ve had every right to be bitter, every right to be angry. I mean, at every turn Joseph was doing the right thing and then receiving, essentially, the repercussions of doing the wrong thing. So, he’s doing right but he’s reaping the reward of doing wrong at every turn. So, if there’s anybody in the Bible thus far that we have encountered that would have the right to bitterness, right, that would have the right to angst and paranoia and just fear, it would be Joseph because what happened to him is unbelievably life altering and in traumatic, but that’s not the Joseph story. Somehow at every turn Joseph did not lose his faith and trust in God. Like, he held onto the one thing that would be his only hope and he held onto it tightly and everywhere that he went, even though bad went to worse he was shortly leading the scenario, which was not only about making life tolerable for him it was making life better for everyone else who was in the same circumstance. God was with him and we can only imagine what Joseph observed and learned through these trials that equipped him to take charge and command the moment Pharaoh appointed him. So, Joseph’s revealing himself to his brothers, and the weeping, yes, it’s a very, very dramatic scene, but Joseph’s words to his brothers are riveting because he essentially tells them after testing them, like after observing them and seeing that they understood the weight of what they had done to him he reveals himself and tells them to not fight each other, not blame each other, not be sad about this anymore because it was God who had sent him ahead to save their lives and the lives of the future generations and all of the land of Egypt. That is quite a perspective, wouldn’t you agree? And the only way Joseph could keep this kind of perspective, because we’re not talking about a couple weeks of hardship or even a couple of months of hardship, we’re talking about a year after year after year with Joseph toiling away in a dungeon with no way out. So, there’s no way Joseph could have navigated this without having a long view, without him continually waking up every morning and being able to tell himself honestly this is not the end of the story, this is not all that’s going on, I don’t know what’s happening here and I don’t know why this is happening, but this is not the end of the story, there’s more going on here and I will keep my faith in God alone. That perspective is a bit of a game changer because it invites us to approach the times of difficulty and hardship differently. I mean, we can look at a time of hardship that we enter into and trace our steps back and there are times that we can say, “I am here entirely because of my own doing”, right? Like, “I literally walked off the narrow path that leads to life and walked over here and I am over here in this mess because I did this”. That would be right and true and then we can walk back onto the narrow path that leads to life and own it. A lot of times when we choose we get off into the darkness and blame God for leading us off the narrow path that leads to life and into the darkness, which is absurd, but we blame God for all kinds of things He has nothing to do with. Or we could take a third approach and, you know, if we are facing times of hardship, but we have not navigated into them, then we can understand that there must be more going on than I understand and I have a role to play in this and embrace the process because we may be paving the way for those who are coming behind us and it could be vital and important, a critical mission for our family tree for generations to come. I mean, it’s easy enough to go, “well, not so much, that’s not my life story” but then we’re reading the story of Joseph in the Bible and it really wasn’t his life story either and yet he was able to acquire and maintain a perspective that kept him believing that there was more going on and if you would keep taking one step and putting it in front of the other one day things might start making sense, and they certainly did.

Payer:

Father, we invite You into that, our times of trials and hardships and difficulties, and how it is that we interpret those times because how we interpret those times dictates how we feel about You, how we feel about the world around us, how we feel about our fellow brothers and sisters navigating the planet Earth at this point in history, it affects everything, and yet these times of trials are never purposeless. So, come Holy Spirit we pray and give us the long view, change our perspective we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello everybody, this is Asia from Chicago. I love you guys so much. I’m literally moved to tears right now because it’s just so beautiful that we have this community with each other and I’ve felt so encouraged from this. Thank you, Brian and Jill and China and everybody on the team. China, congratulations again on your engagement. So, beautiful. I wanted to call for Asia in Germany. I think about you all the time and I think about how your heart has been doing after your miscarriage and how your husband and you are doing and how all of it and just my heart breaks for you every time I think about you and I just want you to know that I’m praying for you and you are loved all the way here from Chicago. I wanted to also lift up Jonathan and Crystal, they’re living in Louisiana and you guys called a couple weeks ago because you were living in your car. Praying for you all the time and also, praying for…a mother called in for Matt, her son, who left a suicide note. I’m praying for him, praying for your heart, praying for your family. Lord, we just lift up all of these things. There’s so much going on but Lord we thank You that You care so much, every single thing that we think and feel and that You love us so…You love us so much, that You care about the birds of the air and You…You give them life Lord and we just want to trust you Lord. Thank You for your love Jesus. Woooo, wow, emotional. Love you guys. Keep your heads up, thank you guys for your prayers, everybody the thinks about me. Love you all. Bye.

Hi everybody, it’s Margo from Australia, currently in the UK. So, we have left Australia and to be honest this is not what I had planned for my first call to DAB after I left Australia, but honestly, I need to be honest and say I am really, really…I am so overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed, I guess I would say crushing grief. I feel so sad at all that I’ve left behind and I didn’t realize the intensity of my feelings that I knew I would be sad and I knew it would be hard but I think I really underestimated what the cost would be and I…I’m still jet lagged too, so that doesn’t help, but I know that this will pass, I know that mourning has a beginning and an end. But right now, I’m in the hardest time. So, yeah, please, can you pray for me? I’m kind of assuming everyone knows my story. I should say I’m moving from Brisbane Australia to Liberia with my husband to be missionaries there and I know, 100%, this is the call of God on my life but that doesn’t mean that following Jesus is not going to be painful at times. I’ve been having trouble eating obviously sleeping and now I kind of feel weak and shaky but…gosh now I feel like I’m just going on and on and on about all my problems, but anyway I would be so grateful for your prayer. Love you all. Bye.

Hi DAB family, this is Lisa from Knoxville. I wanted to first say hello to all of the family reunion attendees that we were able to meet, my family and I. Jay from Nashville, Becky, Laura, and all the families from New York area, Danielle and his brother, just everyone that we were blessed to have the opportunity to meet and fellowship with during those days. Pelham, great to see you all, and Annette Allison. But what I was calling for today was a prayer request that was mentioned on the podcast from the 17th, January 17th, it was from a lady named Steph from Canada who was waiting on some immigration needs as far as trying to get a permanent residency here in the United States. Steph, I am Canadian myself and I have been in the United States since 1996 and I’ve been through the immigration process. I’m a permanent resident now and this year will plan to get my citizenship hopefully. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m praying for you and if you would like to connect, my email address is the word cleverlisap@yahoo.com and I’ll keep you in my prayers, girl. I understand exactly what you’re going through and how stressful that situation can be. Lifting you up. Have a great day.

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK, long time no speak, I hope you’re all good. I know some of you are good, which is why I hesitated then because there’s so many prayer requests recently that have come through and people have shared their pain. And I just want to know that, you know, as many say, I’m thinking of a them, those who are leaving those prayer requests and I’m praying, even if some people leave they request and don’t think that they’ve been heard. Please know that there are many, many people out there that don’t always call in but are praying for you. And I just wanted to ask for your prayers for a certain person. He currently struggling at the moment. His name is Ben and he’s in a mental health ward at the moment here in the UK. And he’s going through some really dark stuff, which I’m not gonna get into detail on. But I would just lift him up to you guys and ask for your prayers for him. He’s recent with Scripture and expressing a real interest in a Christian faith. And it’s just amazing to watch this turnaround in his life, but he needs lots of prayer cover. There’s so many things that are bringing him back into the dark stuff that’s happened in his life and he has got mental illness that he’s working through and having support for, but Jesus is really making an inroad into his life in an incredible way. And I just pray that you would hold up Ben in your prayers over the next week, over the next month because there’s a very good chance he’s going to be released from hospital soon. He’s still not 100% well in the way he can live back in society. We just need to really cover Ben in prayer and ask that he have the right support network around him so that the Holy Spirit will just continue to do that work in his life and that…

Hi this is Jazz from New York City. I’m calling for a prayer request. I’m a medical student, I’m in my last year and I just ranked my residency options. So, I’m just asking that you’d join me in faith just in believing that God will lead me to the hospital, to the residency program He has chosen for me. I very much want to get into a radiology residency. That’s kind of where my heart is and I also like oncology. So, just keep these in mind, but I’d really like a radiology residency. Also, I’m waiting to hear back about my scores for one of my board exams, Step2CS. If you could just join me in believing that I did well, and I passed. I certainly studied very, very, very hard and I’m just praying for God’s best throughout this process. My academic transcript isn’t the best. There were some challenges that I faced with respect to my family. My parents had cancer and I took care of them. They’re doing wonderful by the grace of God, but med school was challenging for that reason, but I’m praying and believing for the best throughout this time and just accepting what God has for me. Thank you and God, bless. Thank you so much.