Devotional Thoughts for Today
“Freely Given”
Genesis 44:1-2
Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.
Joseph is being tricky. He is purposely trying to get Benjamin in trouble so that he can see his brothers protect Benjamin. In a sense, he wants to see if his brothers will treat Benjamin in a similar way to how they had treated Joseph before he ended up in Egypt. Still, Joseph returned their money and gave them more food than they paid for, though he secretly put his silver cup in Benjamin’s pack. All this made his brothers nervous and made them wonder what Joseph was really up to.
Though Joseph was actually being tricky, in our culture, we can often be skeptical when someone tries to give us something for free. We feel like there is a catch. At Symphony Church, we often do something called “servant evangelism,” where we hand out granola bars or water bottles to people as a simple act of service; yet, many people are skeptical, thinking there must be a catch. But there isn’t—we just want to bless them! But still, many people think we must be up to something, that we are being tricky in some way.
This attitude can even bleed into our relationship with God. Free things make us nervous, so we do not accept free grace. We often operate under an attitude of needing to earn this grace. We think, “It can’t really be free!” But it is! Unlike Joseph, God is not tricky. He does not give us grace in a self-interested way. He gives grace at the cost of His Son. And even more, the Bible tells us that God gives us “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). He gives us more than we could imagine. Though Joseph was being tricky when he gave his brothers more than enough food, God freely gives us more than enough.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that You freely bless me with every spiritual blessing. Many times, I find it difficult to accept this, yet still You give and give to me. Lord, You truly are a wonderful Father who gives every good and perfect gift. May I continually give thanks for all that You continually give to me. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Numbers 29
Lunch Break Study
Read Ephesians 1:3-4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Questions to Consider
- In this passage, what is the reason Paul is blessing God?
- What do you think it means that God has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”?
- What is the end result of receiving these blessings from God?
Notes
- Because God has blessed us! Similar to how John says that “we love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19), we bless God because He first blessed us! Our worship of God is an overflow of the abundant blessings that God has poured out on us. Let’s worship God today because of the immense blessing He continually pours out on us!
- First off, we need to recognize that the grounding of these blessings is “in Christ.” We receive this blessing because we are in Christ. Jesus, as God’s beloved Son, is blessed by God because of this immense love God has for His Son. Similarly, in Christ, we are called “children of God,” so this spiritual blessing is similar to that immense love God has for Jesus. Jesus, in the heavenly places, is eternally loved by His Father and we enter into this great love relationship as we are called children of God. As children, we receive more blessing than we could ever imagine! We receive perfect, eternal love.
- We are transformed! We may read this and think, Oh, Paul says that we need to be holy and blameless. Suddenly, this leads us to think we are only loved by God when we actually are holy and blameless, as if this is something we need to do. But that is not what Paul is saying! He is saying that as we receive this blessing, it demonstrates that God has called us His own and this results in us being transformed. We become holy and blameless not by our strength but by receiving the blessings from God.
Evening Reflection
Tonight, spend some time in thanksgiving. God has given you blessing upon blessing, though often we do not notice or we take it for granted. Let’s consciously thank God for all that He has given us.
Many of us likely know the story of the prodigal son, a parable told by Jesus in Luke 15. A son, who was the younger of two brothers, asked his father for his share of the inheritance and, having received it from his father, left and went to live in a far country where he wasted all the money. But upon realizing his utter bankruptcy, the son thinks to himself, “Perhaps I should return home.” However, because of his worry that the father won’t accept him unless he returns as a servant, he plans a speech accordingly: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18-9).
When I read this passage, what comes to mind is Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. In the Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn promised to protect Frodo no matter the cost. He would stand by his side and ensure that no danger would come upon him. Similarly, in the Two Towers, Aragorn made it his mission to find Merry and Pippen, and to ensure that no harm came upon them by the hands of the Uruk-hai. Parents often do something similar: they tell their children to trust them, that they will guarantee their safety, as they ride a bike for the first time, or do something else that could be scary for the child.
As we know from the story of Joseph, there was certainly reason for him to be upset with his brothers. Because of them, he ended up as a slave in Egypt! Yet, as Joseph’s brothers came for grain during the famine, you can sense there was an eagerness for Joseph to be reconciled to them; however, before doing that he wanted them to bring Benjamin. In some way, this was how Joseph believed they would demonstrate their repentance for what they had done. But until then, his brothers wouldn’t see his face again.
The AMI QT Devotionals for February 5-11 are provided by Doug Tritton. Doug, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania, is currently serving as a staff at Symphony Church (Boston), while pursuing a M.Div. at Gordon Conwell Seminary. He is married to Cindy and they are proud parents of Audrey.
In our narrative in Genesis, however, we read that “the famine was severe in the land”—meaning that the scenario for Jacob and his sons is life or death, and they need bread, right away. They were in the throes of lasting, heavy hunger. So, imagine yourself in the shoes of Jacob’s sons. You are terribly afraid of Egypt after your first visit there, but you know you need to go back in order to get food. You know that you need to bring Benjamin with you, yet Jacob will likely not allow that. Between the competing demands and the severe hunger, you can probably imagine that this situation would be quite paralyzing for Jacob’s sons.
One of the most interesting lessons I had in elementary school was about metamorphosis. Every single classroom in my grade level adopted a house of caterpillars. We would watch the caterpillars wriggle about, eat plants, and even begin to create cocoons. What was incredible was that, one day, butterflies emerged. It was hard to believe that once they had been fat caterpillars!
In 1967, Joni Eareckson Tada suffered an accident that left her as a paraplegic. She was only seventeen years old at the time. Her condition left her depressed and angry; however, she came to believe that God could use her disability for His glory. In the last fifty years, she has spoken, written books, and created international ministries. Taking stock of how God’s grace has allowed her to taste grace and minister to others, she can say, “It’s why I thank God every day for my wheelchair.”
As a culture, we are much enamored with the concept of “reaping what you sow.” It is all over our newspapers and our entertainment – we love when the hardworking underdog ends up winning against the odds, or when criminals finally get caught and must pay for their crimes. We tell workers that they have to “put in their time” to earn respect and credibility, and students will surely remember from the last semester whether their diligence (or lack of) paid off. What we are saying is this: what you put in, is what you get out.
There is a Christian colleague I catch up with from time to time. A while back, I had confessed to her that I had felt disengaged, unmotivated to work furiously towards the success of our company. She had been feeling the opposite: she felt blessed to work hard. Over the last couple of years, her team had been very successful, and each person had received generous bonuses. To her surprise, she was able to pay off her student loans years ahead of schedule. After she saw how God had used a seemingly worldly thing to miraculously provide in her life, she believed that working hard was a way to honor Him. Upon hearing this, I was chastened and encouraged to work hard as an act of worship.
Whether new to Christian faith or seasoned, we all desire to “know God’s will,” or find direction in various aspects of our lives—careers, relationships, locations. It is good to seek alignment, because we believe that God knows what is best for His people. We also believe that it is possible for us to hear Him speak through various means—His Word, in time of prayer, through others, and circumstances around us. But as important as it is to hear God, it is just as important to meet His revelation with obedience on our end!