God Wants To Use You – By Camille Stahl

Today’s Passage – Genesis 48 – 50 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Mark 9 – 10; Proverbs 19; Psalms 91 – 95)

Read the “0119 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Genesis 49:33  And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Genesis 50:1-3  And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.  (2)  And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.  (3)  And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

When we read about people in the Bible, we believe they lived perfect lives. Sometimes we think what we read are just stories, but they’re not. They were real people who had real problems like us who God greatly used. So lets look at the family of Abraham to Joseph.

When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden, everything was perfect until the fall. Then we get to the Tower of Babel were God scatters the rebellious world. In the second half of Genesis, we read about one family who God made a promise to. God is going to use this family to restore humanity back to the Garden and His original plan. So Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob and Jacob had twelve sons. In each of these generations God assured them of His blessing of making them a great nation. So because of this great family, one would think they would be a great example to follow to become a great Christian. But lets look at how dysfunctional this family really was.

Abraham – Gave his wife Sarah, away to other men, so he could save his own life.

Sarah – Got impatient and tells Abraham to have a child with her servant. This caused problems in the family that are still going on today.

Isaac- Then had Esau and Jacob and things seem to be going well until Jacob deceives Isaac and receives the Blessing which belonged to Esau.

Jacob – He had twelve sons and loved his eleventh son more then the others. This caused problems for the brothers, in so much that they wanted to kill him. So instead of killing him, Joseph, the eleventh son, was sold into slavery.

And to shorten the story, we know that God elevated Joseph over the land of Egypt under Pharaoh.

Jacob, Israel, had a funeral like no other besides Pharaoh. The people mourned for him seventy day and they mourned for Pharaoh seventy-two days.

But Jacob was a liar and deceiver until we get to Genesis 50:1-3, a man who was greatly used of God and loved by the people.

Not a perfect family, but God still used them all and kept His promise.

When man keeps turning to evil, God directs man back to HIM.

So how about us. To many times we convince ourselves that we’re not worthy to be use of God because of what we did in the past. There is nothing we’ve done that could stop us from being used of God. It’s important to remember who we are in Christ. We are a child of the King of Kings and He loves us more than we can ever imagine.

What is God calling you to do that seems unattainable?

Remember this

Philipians 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

TRUST GOD!