“There is a time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest” ( Ecclesiates 3:2).
When Pharaoh asked Joseph to bring up his famished family to Egypt they were a favored people. “Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock” ( Gen 47:5-6). Favoured the Israelist prospered in a foreign land. “So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed” (vv 11).
Many years later after Joseph had long passed on along with his brothers, with a new generation, in place, things changed. “Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh” ( Exodus 1:8-11)
What a turn around! One day you are the favourite kid on the bloc, next time you are a song of the past! Perhaps you might think this fate befell only the Israrelites over an indefinate period of time, well, these changes can happen to any life. One day one has a boss who takes him as a darling. Next day a new boss comes in and you’re the scum! It happens all the time!
The turn around fate of the Istraelites must give us some dose of humility. When times are good and you’re the prince just know anything can change. Make the best of that time and be humble. Above all depend absolutely on God who put you wherever you are, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” ( Phillipians 2: 13).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, for all the favour upon me may I never take such for granted but remain faithful and humble, trusting in you through good and bad times, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
