Blessed fellowship. The joyful gathering of fellow believers. The goodness of brothers and sisters in Christ communing to talk of a life walked closely with God. Friends in life that are followers of Jesus, sharing their struggles, their triumphs and their concerns. This has become such a vital part of our lives that each and every time we experience these sweet moments, I can see the face of Christ. I believe that God can and will speak to you in numerous different ways and in my experience one of the major ways He speaks is through other Godly men and women.
Last night Margie and I drove north and met Ann and Jack, a dear couple that has become our second parents, our mentors, our spiritual role models and so much more that words are just not capable of expressing. We ate, we laughed, we hurt, we focused on each other, but most of all, we focused on God and the lives that sat before Him. Four lives dedicated to His Kingdom and His will. You see, true blessed fellowship is one of the sweetest gifts the Father has bestowed upon us as followers of Christ. As I look back at our crazy cool journey with God over the last 4 years, I can’t help but look back at the amazing people that God has placed in our lives. People to speak Godly wisdom to us. People to offer companionship. People to love us. People to laugh with and people to cry with. People to tell of the miracles that God has performed in our lives and people to talk about the great disappointments and bitterness that life can so cruelly serve up. You see, it’s about the people. God never intended for us to walk this life on our own as we follow Him and His perfect plan. He gave us help. Beautiful, wise, loving, supportive help. Margie and I find ourselves planning dinner after dinner and coffee after coffee as we seize every opportunity to enjoy the blessed fellowship that God offers. I can’t encourage you enough to be doing the same. We’re told in Hebrews 10:24-25:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
God tells us clearly here that we are to cling to other believers, just as a drowning man clings to a life-line. Grasp it firmly, seek it out and do not let it go. For it is exactly as our example is, a life-line that will give life to the soul that uses it. If you’re not personally meeting with fellow brothers and sisters at least once per week, start. Start this week. Call up someone that God has put on your heart and invite them to dinner. Order a pizza, keep it simple and let the conversation about what God is doing in your lives be the center of the night. You will be blessed, it’s a promise from God.
Well, the 5MC takes us today into chapter 43 of Genesis as we continue to look at the amazing epic of Joseph, the son of Jacob. I no more than got through the first 8 words this morning before God spoke. It’s not an especially exciting 8 words, but it opens the chapter and sets the tone for all that happens within it. You see God can and will use ordinary circumstances within our lives to create extraordinary results for His Kingdom.
“Now the famine was severe in the land.” Genesis 43:1
There was precious little food in the land of Canaan. Jacob (now renamed Israel by God) and his 11 sons are running on fumes. They have exhausted all of the food they got from the last trip to Egypt and now are being forced to go back for more. There is only one problem. None of them want to go back. Joseph made it crystal clear that when they return they better have their youngest brother Benjamin with them. Recall that Simeon is still sitting in Egyptian jail as a guarantee of this arrangement. The brothers are afraid for their own lives and freedom and Jacob, well, Jacob just refused to give up his son Benjamin. He only had two sons from his beloved Rachel and one of them, Joseph, was taken from him over 20 years ago. He just can’t fathom losing little Benjamin too and therefore refuses to let him go to Egypt. But you see regardless of the desires, intentions and will of men, God has the ability to motivate. No matter how we may stamp our feet, throw our fits and refuse to oblige, God has the means to move us and our lives like little knights and rooks on the board of life.
You see, the famine was severe. Very severe. I’ve lived a very, very blessed life in that I have never gone hungry. My heart and soul ache for those in this world today that are suffering with hunger. Food seems like such a minor thing to so many of us, but hunger is real, and folks, hunger is the ultimate motivator. It makes me think of Jean Valjean, the main character in Victor Hugo’s great novel, Les Miserables. Valjean’s sisters’ children are starving and he has no choice but to steal bread to feed them. Steal and break the command of God or watch them die. He is caught in the act, imprisoned, breaks parole and is then hounded for 20 years by the tenacious but inwardly conflicted Javert. The entire story stems from hunger just as our story does today.
You see, Jacob was obstinate in his will, he refused to succumb and send Benjamin as Joseph had insisted. God’s plan it seems has stalled between the ears of Jacob. But God is God. His ways are not ours; He moves in ways deeper than the dark crevasses of the oceans. The famine was severe. God motivates Jacob and brings about obedience through of all things, his stomach.
So, let’s bring this into today. In the US we are blessed with an abundance of food. Just last night we met our dear friends at Chuy’s Mexican food in North Fort Worth and we each had a heaping portion of tasty Tex-Mex placed in front of us. God does not seem to be motivating very many of us today through severe famine. But how does He motivate? Rest assured He does. You see just as a river will meander as it winds its way around sand bars, rock formations and soil deposits, God will use obstacles in our life to move us and change our course until it aligns with His perfect plan. Sometimes if we offer him great obstinance, He might just see fit to bring about a severe famine in our lives to move the immovable. What a glorious picture of our Heavenly Father. Constantly at attention in our lives, tenderly guiding and correcting our paths to ensure we don’t wander too far off course. To ensure that we stay on a path that will lead us in the direction that God knows is the most fruitful for us.
You may be in the midst of a severe famine in your life today. You may be resisting what God has for you but rest assured that God only has the best for you. As Jacob watched his youngest son, Benjamin dissapear into the distant horizon that day, his heart must have been torn in two. The famine had forced his hand to do something he never thought he would do. But he would soon see. God used the severe famine to put into place a plan that would reunite Jacob with a son that he thought he would never see again. A son that he had mourned for countless hours. Because of this severe famine, Jacob will once again see his son Joseph. And because of this severe famine Jacob’s family will become a great nation in Egypt, just as God had promised.
The famine may cause you great hunger pangs today, but God has great plans for your tomorrow.
Praise God for His beautiful plan.
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