God Provides

When Joseph's brothers first heard about his dreams, they balked. They were never going to bow down to him! What was God going to do for them if He put them under their younger brother? Absolutely not. Never. They would not give up whatever good thing God had for them just because the the little rascal had a dream. 

Then, everything starts to play out just the way God said it would. In the midst of a severe famine, the brothers travel to Egypt - the only place in the region that has any food left that might possibly let them buy a little - and come face-to-face with long-lost Joseph and do, in fact, bow down before him. 

But that's not the end of the story. 

Because you see, when Joseph's brothers left Egypt, they left not only with grain, but with all of their money, as well. Extra in their bags. Sacks overflowing. Cups filled-eth. (Is filled-eth a word?) 

They are scared. They don't know how it happened. They think something terrible must be going to happen to them now (they still don't know the man is their brother). They don't understand. 

It's not that hard. 

God is taking care of them. 

God is providing for them, with measures overflowing, at exactly the point in their story when they were least certain that He would. They thought that if they bowed down to Joseph, it was over. They lose everything. But that's not the case. God still sees them, God still loves them, God still cares. He gives them not only the grain that they need to feed their families, but the money they thought they spent for it. He provides in incredible abundance for them. 

Just like He does for us. 

I wonder how many times in my life I've struggled to trust that God will still care for me when the only vision I can see is the thing I least want to do, the thing that makes the least sense to me. I wonder if I could even count the number of sacks I have had overflowing at some of the lowest points of my life. 

I wonder how many you can count.