[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Gracious Words. Gracious Words is taken from the Weekly Women's Bible Study
[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_02]: We're behold to glory God in the face of Christ. It shows us who you are. We're feeling who you are.
[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: God's ways are far above our ways. God has a plan for us but doesn't lay it out all at once.
[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_01]: We go through His process so He can change and grow us.
[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_01]: On today's program we'll see how God performs this in the life of Joseph's brothers.
[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And now here is part one of Cheryl's message titled The Great Reveal.
[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you but do you ever wish you could do or have a do-over?
[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many things in my life that I think, oh, only had the opportunity to do that over.
[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: When I was 12 years old I had this dream that I went to sleep and my whole life took place.
[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I woke up and I was only 12 years old. I keep wondering, am I going to wake up and just be 12
[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and have the opportunity for a do-over? No, I'm not. But there are times that I just wish that were the case.
[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I think of all the things I would do differently and maybe you have that too.
[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: What would you change if you had the opportunity for a do-over?
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Personally, I would trust God more. I would entrust my life, my future, my possessions to God more.
[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I would stress less. I would not insist on my own way as much as I did in the past.
[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I would love others more fervently. I would listen more, especially to my kids.
[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I would forgive offenses. I would be more gracious.
[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I would put more effort and enthusiasm into the opportunities that God gave me.
[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I would appreciate all the people in my life more.
[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I would treasure each event. Life does not give us the do-overs we wish for.
[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Time goes on. Circumstances change suddenly without prior notice.
[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Those things that we thought were always going to be there are no longer there.
[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And we never know what's going to change or when the change is going to happen.
[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet this process that we call life is so necessary to our spiritual development
[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to becoming the person that God wants us to be.
[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It is only through the follies, the foibles, the failures, the false fears,
[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: the feeble attempts, the fruitless endeavors and the famines of life that we learn,
[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: that we take to heart and that we change.
[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: God knows how necessary this process or the journey is for all of us.
[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And so he does not reveal the whole picture to us in the beginning.
[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: However, he does give us his promises.
[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: He gives us hints at what he's going to do. He gives us foreshadowings.
[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And he gives us sometimes these little details that we don't understand.
[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: What does this have to do with anything?
[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But all the while, he is preparing us through the circumstances of our life
[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: to be ready for the great plans that he has.
[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Ever wonder why God does not lay out the whole plan clearly?
[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever wonder about that?
[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I often think, oh Lord, if you had just shown me this, I would have behaved so much better.
[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I would have been such a better Christian. I would have been so much nicer.
[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, if you just would have shown me the whole picture, I wouldn't have gotten angry with Brian.
[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't have been impatient with the children.
[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I could be so much better behavior Lord.
[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But the Lord is so interested in our behavior or good behavior.
[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I was reading yesterday about the boldness that we get to enter the throne of God with.
[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, Lord, I enter in so many times so irreverently.
[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't come in bowing, telling you what a great God you are.
[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I just come rushing and going, I have got the biggest problem.
[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Right now I need your help.
[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, oh Lord, I'm not reverencing you enough.
[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord spoke to me and he said, Cheryl, I want the true Cheryl.
[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I want the real Cheryl.
[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want the image that Cheryl thinks she should be.
[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I want those unsanctified emotional outbursts in my throne room.
[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I want you as you are, as you are feeling.
[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why Jesus died to give us bold entrance that we might come as we are.
[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I come into the throne room as I am saying, look at this.
[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: This right here needs help.
[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: This right here needs the right emotions, the right heart, the right changes.
[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: This blob of pure folly needs Jesus Christ so desperately.
[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the honest truth.
[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why we can come in boldly with confidence.
[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Because we come in needing God's help, needing God's work.
[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Not in our perfection because as much as we try, as much as we grow on this planet Earth,
[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: we will never be perfected.
[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: We will never have the level of reverence that God is due.
[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Because we will never understand the great reveal of His greatness, His goodness is in the future.
[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And in that day when we know even as we are known, we will have the right reverence.
[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But right now we have bold entrance into the throne room of God.
[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So back to my question.
[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever wonder why God does not lay out the whole plan clearly before you?
[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I was thinking about this the other day.
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Why does God use metaphors and symbolism, dreams, parables?
[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And stories to speak to us about what He is going to do or about His work.
[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe it's for various reasons.
[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: One, that if we knew the whole plan of God for us and for the future,
[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: we would never truly grow or change internally.
[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: We would just do these things because it was in our best self-interest.
[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: If we knew that it would cause us pain, we would draw back, but we would still want it.
[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: We would still want that thing that was forbidden, but we wouldn't do it because it would cause pain.
[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So the true self would never be revealed.
[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: We would do things out of compulsion rather than from the heart.
[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And we wouldn't learn the lessons.
[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And we would never truly be strong or trained or prepared.
[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: We wouldn't come to know God as intimately as we do.
[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: You see, it's the fellowship of sufferings that rivets our attention on God.
[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: We would not necessarily cooperate just because we know.
[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: We might try to eliminate or avoid necessary steps.
[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We might say, okay, Lord, I see what you're doing, but could we change this wall and make it more open?
[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Or could we move the oven over here?
[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: We might even resist the plans of God.
[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I know that you want it to go this way, but I don't really like this.
[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember waking up from a necessary surgery and thanking God that I didn't know how much pain would be involved.
[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I said to the Lord, Lord, thank you that you did not reveal to me before this surgery that I would wake up in this much pain.
[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Because this surgery is necessary and had I known the pain involved, I would have said no.
[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I know myself.
[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I would have said no.
[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just live with this condition.
[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll die with this condition.
[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: But God kept me from knowing the pain.
[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But I remember even waking up in that pain, God was my only comfort, my only strength.
[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I just said, Lord, I'm in tremendous pain.
[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, my whole body went into like a convulsion.
[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I began to shake from the pain, but I still held on to the Lord.
[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: God does not reveal the whole plan to us.
[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: We might try to rewrite the blueprint.
[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: All of those time travel movies that we see, you know, how often, you know, this is a desire for so many people to travel back in time
[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and redo all the wrongs.
[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But even in the movies, when people try to redo the wrongs, they mess up the future even worse than what they had experienced was.
[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, they miss a necessary step in the development.
[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: God uses all the follies, all the foibles, all the failures, all the fault spheres, all the feeble attempts, all the fruitless endeavors
[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and all the famines of our life to work in us that he might work through us, that he might work for us
[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and that he might work with us, with our cooperation, his greater plans.
[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: The process of recognizing our faults, our failures, our fallible nature only comes by experience in the journey.
[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: God is just as interested in the process as in the end result.
[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: He is just as interested in the journey as he is in the destination.
[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: When we come to Genesis 44 and 45, we come to what I've called the great reveal.
[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: This great reveal shows us the reason for God's process.
[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: In Joseph's life, we see all that God accomplished in the hearts of Joseph's brother, in Joseph himself and in Jacob.
[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And we recognize that everything that has previously happened with the brothers, with Jacob, with Joseph
[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_00]: was necessary to bring them to this moment, to this place and into God's great plans.
[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the great reveal.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And there are so many revelations, so many things that are revealed in this chapter.
[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: We see true repentance.
[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: We see the true condition of Joseph's brother's heart, what has happened and taken place.
[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: There will be the reveal of the past sins of the brother, the revelation of all the guilt that they've been carrying.
[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_00]: There will be the revelation of Joseph's journey, how God was with him this entire time.
[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: There will be the revelation of Joseph's tenderness and good character.
[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And there will be the reveal of Joseph's identity as the prime minister of Egypt.
[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But ultimately, the true or greater revelation is of God's great goodness, God's great purposes,
[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and God's constant care and guidance through the entire process.
[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Genesis 44, this chapter deals with the revelation of the hearts of Joseph's brothers.
[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: This is where we see the true change in these brothers.
[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: If they hadn't changed, Joseph would not be able to bless them.
[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They would still be a danger to themselves, a danger to their own posterity,
[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: to the nation of Israel in the future.
[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: They would be a danger to Joseph's position in Egypt.
[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Before Joseph can save these brothers, preserve these brothers,
[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: provide for these brothers or bless these brothers, he must know that they have truly changed.
[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Years ago I had this friend and she was a really difficult friend.
[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I even used the word friend loosely because I think I was a good friend to her.
[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it was reciprocated. Maybe we've all had those non-reciprocal friends.
[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember she wanted to maintain a lifestyle that she could not afford.
[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And the lifestyle she wanted to maintain was even the lifestyle, far above the lifestyle that I lived.
[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But she would guilt me a lot and if I was ever blessed if my mom bought me something,
[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: she would make me feel so guilty like, oh, I wish my mother would buy me things like that.
[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I wish I could afford things like that.
[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So I ended up giving her things.
[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Brian came home one day to no dining room table and chairs.
[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And he said, what happened to our table and chairs?
[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, well, this person really needed it.
[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: The next week she sold them at a garage sale.
[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: She gelted me out of two bikes that Brian and I owned.
[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: We used to take bike rides. Brian comes home. No bikes.
[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, well, I figured we could buy bikes. She sold those at a garage sale.
[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Everything that she gelted me out of, she sold at a garage sale.
[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And then she bought something better and made payments on it.
[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she was still in that really indebted position.
[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And no matter how I tried to help her, she was in debt, always in debt.
[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And Brian and I, we paid cash for everything.
[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: We stayed out of debt.
[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember one day just praying about it.
[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And I can't remember if it was a dream or a vision, what the Lord showed me.
[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But he showed me this friend in the middle of the deep end of a swimming pool.
[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was sitting on the edge of the swimming pool and there were a lot of us sitting there.
[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And she was crying out for help.
[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And I saw her going down and she was about to drown.
[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So I dove in the water to save her, but she wouldn't let me save her.
[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, she pushed me under so she could stand on top of me and stay in the same place.
[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So I had to dive down deeper to get away from her and swim to the side.
[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And again, she started crying out because she was drowning.
[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And again, like an idiot in my vision or dream,
[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I swam out to her and she pushed me under and stood on top of me again.
[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And I realized that I could not save her and myself at the same time.
[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, God, I can't save her. I'll only die in the process.
[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And I heard the voice of the Lord say, exactly, you're going to have to stay on this side.
[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Just throw her the life ring.
[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And if she doesn't take it, that's her responsibility, but you cannot save her.
[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was really hard for me because I realized I had been saving and trying to save her.
[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But I couldn't.
[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is where Joseph is.
[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: He has to make sure that his brothers are safe because if he tries to save them and they're the same brothers,
[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: they will only pull him down and they'll all die together.
[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Over these last years, I have watched certain people I know change for the better.
[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I can think of two women that when I was young, I thought, whoa, those Wahinis are not safe.
[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: We are never going to be friends.
[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll be acquaintances. I will be nice to them.
[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I will say hi.
[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I just knew they weren't safe. I saw it.
[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But you know, I watched both of them change.
[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know if they know each other, but I watched them change in the journey.
[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I watched a gentleness of soul, a graciousness and a godliness overtake both of them through the circumstances of their lives.
[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_00]: These two separate women have become two of my favorite women, two women that I feel safe with.
[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I confide in.
[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I rejoice over the things that God does in their life.
[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: But I'll tell you, years ago they were not safe, but through the journey, oh, what God has done for them.
[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Others that I've known of the years have remained exactly the same.
[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: They might look different.
[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They might look like they've aged.
[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_00]: They've been through a journey, but they remain the same.
[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They have not yielded to the trials or testings of their life.
[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, they have been resilient against anything that God has sought to work in them.
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They're even angry at the journey of the things that God has allowed in their life.
[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Still others I know have gotten worse from the journey.
[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00]: The things that they got away with in their youth are now the practices that they hold tightly to.
[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: They used to lie, but now every word that comes out of their mouth is a lie.
[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't know how to live without the lies.
[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: They cheat even more than they did.
[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_00]: They used to cheat a little bit.
[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Now they cheat in everything.
[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: They slander in greater measure.
[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they'd always say like a little thing or kind of come into a conversation.
[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: You'd be like, oh, but now everything they say slander every time their mouths open.
[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It's slanderous.
[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It's it's lying.
[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's it's trying to deceive.
[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They are still sat on enriching themselves at the impoverishment of everyone else.
[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not safe.
[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph devised a plan so he could test his brothers and know whether they were safe or not.
[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: He wanted to test whether his brothers had truly repented if they were remorseful over what they had done.
[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: If they had sincerely changed so that they would not do the same.
[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Were they still liars?
[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Were they still cheaters?
[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Were they still slanderous?
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Were they still jealous?
[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph's plan would reveal their hearts.
[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So what he sought to do was observe their treatment of Benjamin, the son of Rachel, his true brother, the most beloved of Jacob.
[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: What their attitude toward Benjamin would be when they saw that he was favored by the prime minister of Egypt.
[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00]: What they would do when he was caught with the divination cup of the prime minister.
[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So Joseph, after giving a great feast for his brothers, sent them away with gray their money in their sacks.
[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And he had his servants place the divination cup in the sack of Benjamin.
[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, a note about this cup.
[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Did Joseph use divination?
[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: No.
[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But every ruler in Egypt had a divination cup.
[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And Joseph decided to use this to his advantage.
[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, he's not revealing who he is yet.
[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So he has this divination cup.
[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And he wants to have his brothers think that as an Egyptian, he has these powers of divination.
[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And no doubt, you know, all the Egyptians thought he had the power of Egypt divination.
[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_00]: After all, it was Joseph that foretold the famine that had the ideas, the concepts of how to keep grain in silos
[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and in these storage areas so that Egypt could be fed during the seven years of famine.
[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Probably all of Egypt considered Joseph to have divining powers.
[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So Joseph uses this reputation to test his brothers.
[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: After the brothers leave the city, Joseph sent his servants after them and they overcame the brothers.
[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_00]: There they accused the brothers of stealing the divination cup.
[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_00]: To steal this divination cup would mean that the brothers were trying to usurp Joseph's power.
[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, the divination cup was also a sign of prestige, of position in Egypt.
[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So they're saying we want your divining powers.
[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We've taken this so we'll know as much as you know.
[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_00]: The brothers adamantly deny such a charge.
[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not after Joseph's position.
[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not after Joseph's power.
[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: They are so sure of their innocence that they avow that whoever the cup is found with among them is worthy of death.
[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And if the cup is found among them, not only will that brother die, but the rest of them volunteer to become Joseph's servants.
[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph's servants insist that only the one with whom the cup is found will be punished and the others have the opportunity to go free.
[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: The bags of all the brothers are open and searched.
[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 11, then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground and each opened his sack.
[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The brothers are so sure of their innocence they are hastily opening their bags.
[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: They want to prove their innocence.
[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And the search starts with the oldest moving to the youngest.
[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So again here is the birth order.
[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Here is Joseph's servants knowing who the oldest is going to the youngest.
[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: No doubt the brothers not only had relief as the sacks were searched though the money was found,
[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: you know no divination cup in Rubens sack, no divination cup in Simeons,
[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: no divination cup in Levi's, no divination cup in Judah.
[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And so it went down.
[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the brothers were even becoming more sure of their innocence,
[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_00]: becoming more perturbed by this false accusation until they opened Benjamin's sack.
[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean think about it, they've opened 10 sacks.
[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: These brothers are so in the clear they're ready to go back to their father but here now.
[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_00]: In the last sack of the youngest brother there is the divination cup.
[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The servants of Joseph are ready to arrest Benjamin and take him back alone.
[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: This is where we see the change, the reveal in the brothers.
[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: They could easily allow Benjamin alone to be arrested and they would have their grain,
[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: they would preserve their own lives, they would preserve their reputations in Egypt.
[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_00]: They could go free.
[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: However, the brothers do no such thing.
[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead they tear their clothes, they visibly are upset of what has happened to their brother.
[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: They are feeling the pain, they are feeling the angst and they insist on all returning to fight for Benjamin.
[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Not one is saying well let me go home with the grain.
[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: They're saying no, we're all in this together.
[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So they return to Joseph's house and they all fall on the ground before Joseph.
[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_00]: There Joseph accused them, what deed is this that you have done?
[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Did you not know that such amount as I can certainly practice divination?
[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: What is Joseph doing here?
[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: He's inviting repentance.
[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Life can throw us a curveball at any time.
[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Some may see Joseph's tests as vindictive and mean,
[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_01]: but God was using these tests to work in the hearts of Joseph's brothers to bring change and repentance.
[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01]: God's desire for us is to have an intimate relationship with him.
[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Our sin disrupts that.
[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Repentance allows us to express sorrow over our sins, acknowledge that we were wrong and turn back to God.
[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: May we each repent of the sin that God is calling us to turn from today.
[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_01]: We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study.
[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_01]: For more information about the Gracious Words Radio program and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Brodersen,
[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_01]: please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Coming up next time on the Gracious Words program,
[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_01]: we'll see how the tension increases for Joseph's brothers.
[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_01]: As we continue our series, Our Great Creator in the book of Genesis with Cheryl Brodersen.
[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_01]: We do hope you make plans to join us.
[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, for more information, please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_03]: We will come for you Lord and wonder, wonder
[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_03]: We will fall on our knees and surrender, we surrender to you.
[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_01]: This program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel, Coast Amesa, California.
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