Friday, 11 December 2020

Grace and favour

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"But ADONAI was with Yosef, showing him grace and giving him favor in the sight of the prison warden." (Genesis 39:21, CJB)

Joseph is in prison and the L-rd is showing him grace and giving him favor. Wow, so does that mean that we can expect G-d to make us wealthy and everyone like us all the time? Perhaps not! Joseph was in prison and we can be pretty certain that being a slave in an Egyptian prison was not fun; and while G-d certainly blessed him, He didn't take him out of prison.

From this we can learn that no matter where we are, G-d can be with us and He is capable of moving in our lives. We should also learn from this that G-d can sometimes show us His grace in unexpected ways - He doesn't always rescue us from the "bad things" in our lives but uses those things to bring blessing. So next time we are grumbling that G-d never seems to do anything for us, maybe we should think a little harder and see how He has moved, even if it's not in the way we would ideally like.

There is no record that Joseph called out to G-d or even prayed, yet G-d was moving in His life. We know that G-d has called us as part of His people, we know we belong to Him and we are to a witness and a light. So maybe we should be proactive and ask G-d to show us grace and give us favour? Grace to keep going through the difficult things in life and to know His presence and favor with those around so - so that we might be used for His purposes and His name glorified.

"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." (John 10:29, NASB)