God’s good plan will happen - His people will live and not die because of God’s rescuer

This is in the Bible in Genesis 42-43

Joseph is the Prime Minister of Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all who came to buy it during the famine. The famine was so bad that people everywhere were going to die even Joseph’s father and brothers in the land of Canaan.

But God had a brilliant plan to stop Jacob and the whole family from dying in the famine. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain. But the youngest Benjamin stayed with his father.

The brothers arrived in Egypt and there they met Joseph, but because Joseph now looked like an Egyptian they didn’t recognise him. Joseph though knew exactly who they were.

The brothers bowed down to Joseph! Do you remember his dreams? Joseph did! But he wanted to know if they had changed so he accused them of being spies.

“No we’re not! We are 10 brothers and there is one more brother at home and one brother has died.” they said. Joseph threw them in prison but after 3 days he let them out, gave them grain but he kept Simeon, one of the brothers in prison. He said, “Go with the grain and bring back your other brother so I know you are not spies.”

The brothers said to one another “This is all our fault. We are being punished for what we did to Joseph.” Joseph heard this and cried.

The brothers took the grain & left Egypt. But what they didn’t know was that Joseph had put the money they had paid for the grain back in their sacks. When they got home they told Jacob all that had happened and that the man in charge of Egypt wanted to see Benjamin to know they were not spies. Then the brothers opened their sacks of grain and found all the money, they were very frightened.

But the grain didn’t last forever, and Jacob told his sons to go back to Egypt and get some more grain, but the brothers knew they couldn’t go without Benjamin. Eventually Jacob agreed & let Benjamin go with his brothers.

When they got to Egypt they gave the steward the money for the grain which they had found in their sacks but the steward said he had been paid already.

Then they were taken by the steward in charge of Joseph’s house to have dinner with Joseph. To their surprise the brothers were seated round the table in age order. During the meal Joseph tested the brothers to see if they were still jealous & gave Benjamin 5 times as much food as each of them!

When the meal was over the brothers’ sacks were filled with grain and again their money was put in the sacks. But Joseph had one more test to see if his brothers were truly sorry. He hid his special silver cup in Benjamin’s sack & the brothers left.

Joseph send his servant after them, asking where was Joseph’s special cup. They of course found the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. The brothers were so sad and tore their clothes. They returned to Egypt with Benjamin and when they saw Joseph, they threw themselves to the ground before him. “What can we say! We are guilty of sin. We will all become your slaves.” Joseph said only Benjamin will be his slave.

But Judah speaks to Joseph “Please let me speak to you. Our father had 2 sons that he loved very much. One died and our father will die if we do not return with his other son, Benjamin whom he loves very much. Please let me stay instead of my brother. I will be your servant and let him go back to his father. How could I possibly go home and leave my brother here. No please let me stay and send Benjamin home.”

Judah has changed! Joseph knew that and so he sent all the servants out of the room. Joseph loved his brothers so much that he cried & cried. “I am Joseph. I am your brother, the one you sold as a slave to the Egyptians.”

The brothers were really scared now. Is this really Joseph? “Don’t be scared. Don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me as a slave. God had a great plan. He sent me here ahead of you to save many people’s lives.”

God had sent Joseph to Egypt to save his people from the famine. All this had been God’s great plan. God’s people were all rescued so that they could enjoy living as God’s people.

And this points us to Jesus who loves us and forgives us all we do wrong and wants us to come to him and be rescued. He wants us to change and turn to Him to be saved. Is that something you have thought about and want to do?