Jesus came to earth as a baby.
He grew up into a man.
He died on a cross for my sins.
Was buried
And through God’s power
Conquered death
On the third day.
Through God’s power
He loves today.
He lives in me,
In my heart, my mind, and my soul.
Through God’s power
He lives through me
As I reach out to others.
Help me to open the door
To let You completely in
To let You work Your way out
All through God’s power.
“And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.” Genesis 37:11
Joseph has just reported the second of his dreams, where the sun, moon and eleven stars bow down to him. Jacob has rebuked him for it. The next we read, Joseph is sent to Shechem by Jacob to see how the brothers and the flocks are doing. He will never deliver his report to his father.
Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him – because of his dream, his coat of many colors, the favor their father bestowed on him and not them – all older. I have seen firsthand the damage that parental favoritism does to siblings – a lifetime of damage that rarely heals. In the name of Jesus, I pray against every kind of parental favoritism.
Jacob/Israel rebukes Joseph, but he kept the saying in mind. Sort of like Mary treasuring in her heart all the things she was told about Jesus. I wonder if the dreams added to Jacob’s torments for the next twenty years. Did he dismiss them at Joseph’s demise as the dreams of a foolish youngster? I wonder if he simply forgot about them because his grief was so great – did the loss drive them from his mind or did it increase his bitterness because he had secretly thought/hoped it was true? I wonder if he remembered them when he learned that Joseph was alive in Egypt and if not, exactly when. On the journey? Did the brothers tell him they paid homage to Joseph as an Egyptian official? Or did Jacob himself not remember until he saw Joseph and Pharaoh?
Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had placed upon Pharaoh. Exodus 8:12
God placed the frogs upon Pharaoh, so why did Moses feel the need to “cry” to the Lord – why didn’t he simply ask? Let’s see…
God had told Moses He would send the frogs, but didn’t mention their removal, so perhaps Moses cried because he didn’t know whether or not God would. Pharaoh asked Moses to ask God to remove the frogs (apparently his magicians could make frogs appear, but not disappear) and Moses told him to pick the time. Perhaps Moses was worried that he’d overstepped his authority and therefore had to “cry”.
It could be that Moses’ relationship with God was still so new, he didn’t know God well enough yet and felt the need to cry to Him. I can imagine some of the scenarios he might have been running. What if God doesn’t remove the frogs? Pharaoh could have us killed! What if God didn’t want me to let Pharoah pick the time? God could kill me! And so on and so on.
Perhaps Moses simply felt the need to cry. He is under intense pressure as a new leader, he lacks confidence, his relationship with Yahweh is still new. There were so many frogs.
I wonder how often God wishes our prayers were more intense. How tired is He of hearing our standard list of praises, confessions, thanks and supplications in the same monotone voice time after time? Does He long to hear some fervency in our prayers? Do we? What would happen within us if we cried out more often?
My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. Psalm 130:6
“It’s always darkest just before dawn.” The surprise attack would come then – just before dawn and so the watchmen waited for morning. Once it was morning, they could breathe easier knowing all was safe and well. Until then, they scanned for the sunrise as much as the enemy.
We need to be on the lookout for our enemy, Satan. We need to wait for God to act and we need to watch for Christ to return more than the watchmen for the morning.
In memory of those who watched for the morning on this day in 1944 – those who never watched for another sunrise, and those who did but never again in the same way.
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