# 401 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

The Book of Genesis

Day 401

Ge 42:3 So Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.  4 But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "Lest some calamity befall him."  5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.  6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.  7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, "Where do you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."  8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

I find it interesting that Jacob’s statement concerning Benjamin is in quotation marks. That means he literally spoke those words to his ten sons. “Benjamin is not going with you lest some calamity befall him.” The implication is that Benjamin means more to him than do the other ten. Of course Jacob has never made any secret about that. His two favorite children were those birthed by his beloved Rachel. (Joseph and Benjamin)

His words are also a secretly stinging reminder to the boys that he has not forgotten what happened to Joseph, and that phrase likely reopened the brother’s wounds concerning their actions against Joseph.

So with these words stinging and ringing in their ears, they take off for Egypt. Little did they know that in order to get grain, they would have to bow down to their once hated brother Joseph! He was the one who decided who gets bread and who doesn’t.

What a moment! His ten brothers bowing down to him just as he had seen in that dream so many years ago! He recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him all dressed up in his Egyptian royal garb. One can almost hear Joseph breaking out in a chorus of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” if it had been written at that time. After years of slavery, injustice, and prison, all leading up to this moment, and it happened just as God had revealed it to him in a dream! Yes, great is Thy faithfulness!

Perhaps you find yourself wavering in faith these days. I hope this account  will serve as a reminder that God is not asleep. He will do what He says He will do. Believe it! Cling to it! Though it may take 20 years, as it did in Joseph’s case, or 1 or 40 or maybe it will have to wait until the Lord calls you home. But He is faithful!. His will, WILL be done!