The Blessing of Losing Yourself

In Genesis 45, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and immediately sheds his love upon them in full measure. Then after than, he adorns them with gifts and promises - the best of the land.

Notice how Pharaoh instructs Joseph to speak to his family:
Genesis 45:17–20 (ESV) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

I think about how Joseph was so adored by his boss (Pharaoh) that he would be instructed by him to give his family all these things! Pharaoh wants those Joseph knows and loves to be blessed and well cared for. It's a picture of the Lord Jesus and the Father. The Father LOVES the Son and on HIS behalf, He loves us.

John 3:35–36 (ESV) The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

In Christ, we have a true and better Joseph who reveals himself and blesses us abundantly. The true Christian in love with the Lord has no fear of the future or his life because our champion in heaven has gone before us and has secured for us a lasting inheritance in eternity. AND, that eternity in Christ begins the moment we come to Him in faith!

But this moment for the brothers did not happen instantaneously. No, what you see here is the fruit of their repentant hearts before Joseph. They came to the end of themselves and fell at Joseph's feet in humility. The verse on which these event pivot is found a few chapters earlier:
Genesis 44:14 (ESV) When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground.

The brothers had thought they were good with this prince of Egypt and all was well. Joseph had worked behind the scenes to spoil all their best efforts of a relationship with him. When they see their best efforts fail, that is the moment things begin to turn around for something much better than bags full of grain.

This is such a clear picture of our relationship with God. We try our best to preserve our lives and get "just enough" grain to go on. But our best efforts are simply cover ups for our worst failures. The brothers had failed with Joseph years before and no amount of good work on behalf of Benjamin could undo it for them. Now that they see their works for what they are, they throw their hands up in total loss and humbly bow at the mercy of Joseph.

The same goes for us. Until we give up trying our best to please God and start trusting Christ's work on our behalf, we will never know true riches. Until we humbly admit that our best can never be good enough we will never know his bountiful provision and grace. But when we lose ourselves, then we find our life in Christ more blessed than we could ever have imagined or believed.

When you see how generous God WANTS to be with you, it removes the burden of stress from off of you. And you can rest in His love and care.

Amen.