Christ Church Daily Devotion Dec 5 2023

Joseph's brothers strip him of his robe and throw him into an empty cistern. They see a caravan of Ishmaelites and decide to sell Joseph to them. The speaker encourages listeners going through challenging times to trust that God is working for their good, even if they can't see it. They suggest praying for preparedness to face trials with this truth in mind. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for December 5th, 2023. Today we will be reading from Genesis chapter 37 verses 23 through 28. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornate robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty. There was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. In the life of Joseph throughout scripture, we see God plotting for good, even amidst tragic situations. There is so much to talk about in this story, but at this point, I want to encourage you, if you are walking through a particularly challenging time in your life right now, or maybe not now, maybe it is a trial that is coming around the corner that you don't even know is coming around the corner, I just want to encourage you to know that in the middle of that trial, though you may not right now understand why this is happening, what is going on around me, I just want to encourage you, there is a sovereign God who is on the throne. He is indeed working in ways we do not see to bring about good. He is working to bring about good. That's the promise in Romans 828. The situation that you are going through is not good and God knows that. But know that he is working to bring about good in your life and in the lives of the people around you. You might be thinking, nothing about this seems good. I think Joseph would say the same thing. He had no idea what God had in store. Today's personal worship option, pray today that your heart and mind be prepared with this truth when you face trials.