OUR DAILY BREAD : STRANDED

[cimi]

February 7
Thursday


STRANDED

READ:
Genesis 39:19-23
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The LORD was with
Joseph and showed
him mercy
__Genesis 39:21
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Traveling by bus from Memphis, Tennessee, to St. Louis, Missouri, typically takes about 6 hours__unless the bus driver leaves you stranded at a gas station. This happened to 45 passengers aboard a bus who waited 8 hours overnight for a replacement driver after the original driver abandoned them. They must have felt frustrated by the delay, anxious about the outcome, and impatient for rescue.

Joseph probably shared hose feelings when he landed in prison for a crime he didn't commit (Gen. 39). Abandoned and forgotten by any human who might help him, he was stranded. still, "the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor" (v.21).

Eventually, the prison warden promoted Joseph to oversee fellow inmates, and whatever Joseph did, "the LORD made it prosper" (v.23). But despite God's presence and blessing, Joseph remained incarcerated for years.

You may be stranded in a hospital room, a jail cell, a country far from home, or your own inner prison. No matter where you are, or how long you've been there, God's mercy and kindness can reach you. Because He is God Almighty (Ex. 6:3) and present everywhere (Jer. 23:23-24), He can protect, promote, and provide for you when it seems no one else can help. __Jennifer Benson Schuldt
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear God, help us to remember~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Your presence and power even when~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~we are not where we want to be in life. Remind us~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~to reach for You when no one else can reach us.~~~~~~
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god is present__even when we feel He is absent.

***************Today's Bible Reading __ genesis 39:19-23****************

19 So it was, when his
master heard the words
which his wife spoke to
him, saying, "Your servant
did to me after this
manner," that his anger was
aroused. 20 Then Joseph's
master took him and put
him into the prison, a place
where the king's prisoners
were confined. And he was
there in the prison.

21 But the LORD was with
Joseph and showed him
mercy, and He gave him
favor in the sight of the
keeper of the prison. 22 And
the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand
all the prisoners who were
in the prison; whatever they
did there, it was his doing.

23 The keeper of the prison
did not look into anything
that was under Joseph's
authority, because the LORD
was with him; and whatever
he did, the LORD made it
prosper.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Genesis 39 covers about 10 years of Joseph's life. It begins with
him being sold into slavery by his brothers and ends with him being
unjustly thrown into prison. In between, he was a slave in Egypt,
serving in Pharoah's house. He had learned to serve and to lead.
Most important, he had learned to live in the presence of God--a
reality that is mentioned no less than four times in this chapter
(vv.2,3,21,23). Whether Joseph was a slave or a prisoner, the one
constant was God's presence in his life--a lesson he may never
have learned had he not been forced to go to Egypt as a slave and
experienced numerous betrayals.