“The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone" ( Psalm 118:22)
The Gospel of Jesus is about lives once shunned but accepted. When the parents of baby Moses along with his sister Miriam placed him in a papyrus basket which set sail to nowhere only for Pharaoh's daughter to pick him up it was all about a God who picks up the abandoned. The once rejected Moses would grow up to become the savior of a nation ( Exodus 2:1-8).
Moses's story of abandonment was in the same pattern as was of Joseph. After an attempted murder on his life Joseph was abandoned to slave traders and later sold to the house of Potiphar ( Genesis 39). Falsely accused and abandoned to the dungeon God picked up Joseph to crown him as premier of ancient Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck" ( Genesis 41:41-2). A life once discarded now having a final say in the affairs of then the greatest nation on earth.
When Jesus was born and Herod sought to kill all baby boys afraid of a prophecy that one would grow up to become King of the Jews, he had to be ferried away into exile to Egypt (Mathew 2:13). From that inauspicious beginning of abandonment he would return to start his ministry of salvation.
No one determines the circumstances of his birth and upbringing. There are countless lives which at birth are rejected. There are many children who grow up in unloving environments characterized with rejection. And in life many adults are thrown out into the streets, like Joseph was. Fortunately, and what a blessing to know, there is a God out there in the business of picking up lives once abandoned and turning them around!
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, you are the God who picks and turns around lives once abandoned and restores them and may this be my favour, too, this I pray in Jesus' name!
Related upcoming events
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08/05/2024 - 09/05/2024 All day“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
The culture of sharing gifts runs through scriptures and is at the heart of the Gospel. Upon realizing that Jesus Christ had been born the three wise main did not just go empty handed. “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Mathew 2:11).
When Jacob decided to return to his country, he went with gifts to soften the heart of his twin brother Esau, whom he had left maddened at him for various wrongs. “Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys” ( Genesis 32: 13-15). The reason was, Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.” So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp” (vv 2—21).
Esau was already a wealthy man and had no need of the gifts presented. But Jacob pleaded with him. “Please take this gift I have brought you, for God has been very gracious to me. I have more than enough.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau finally accepted the gift” (Genesis 33: 11). This symbol of good touched Esau, brightened his heart, burying the old acrimonious relation.
Taking after these two instances believers should be in the habit of sharing gifts. We should visit each other not empty handed but like the wise men with gifts, not so much that those we are gifting are lacking, but as a way of blessing them. Proverbs 11:25-26, says, “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”
Most importantly we bless each other with gifts because we have received the most important gift there is in life, the gift of salvation. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I thank you for the most precious gift of all that you gave me of eternal life through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and so I pray that I may not hesitate to share this gift and bless those with as much whom you enable me to meet, this I pray in Jesus’ name.
