11-13-2020, 08:03 AM
*THE DAILY FOUNTAIN.*
THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA _(ANGLICAN COMMUNION)_
*DATE:* FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 *THEME:* THE EVIL OF GUILTY CONSCIENCE
*BIBLE READING:* GENESIS 44: 18-34
18. Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
19. My lord asked his servants,`Do you have a father or a brother?'
20. And we answered,`We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'
21. "Then you said to your servants,`Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.'
22. And we said to my lord,`The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.'
23. But you told your servants,`Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24. When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25. "Then our father said,`Go back and buy a little more food.'
26. But we said,`We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27. "Your servant my father said to us,`You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since.
29. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in misery.'
30. "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,
31. sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
32. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said,`If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
33. "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father."
*MESSAGE:*
Recall it was Judah and Reuben who provided alternative means of disposing off of Joseph instead of killing him as previously planned, just to arrest his dreams (Gen. 37:21,22;26-27). Now, imagine the same Judah, unknowingly announcing Joseph’s supposed ‘obituary’ directly to him (vs. 20, 28). The lie they told their father long ago had since become and has remained their reality! And Joseph must have wondered where they saw him being ‘torn to pieces…’! Guilty conscience is a deadly evil. Judah was still able to recall the sequence of events with vivid clarity! How they must have been tormented for 22 years, especially as they saw their father mourn day after day! Evil never pays. Wicked people often make the mistake of thinking that the pain associated with their evil deeds will somehow, soong be forgotten, but how wrong they can be!
Can you count the number of times the phrases “… my lord,” or “…your servants…” appeared in this passage out of cringing fear of “this ruler”? This was the very thing they wanted to prevent based on the dreams Joseph had long ago. What the Lord has decreed concerning our lives, no one can thwart. He is able to accomplish His plans for our lives.
*PRAYER:*
Lord keep me from a lying tongue and uproot every seed of wickedness in me.
*Daily Fountain Quote of the Day*
_"Having the answers is not essential to living. What is essential is the sense of God's presence during dark seasons of questioning."_ — *Ravi Zacharias*
Good morning
THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA _(ANGLICAN COMMUNION)_
*DATE:* FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 *THEME:* THE EVIL OF GUILTY CONSCIENCE
*BIBLE READING:* GENESIS 44: 18-34
18. Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
19. My lord asked his servants,`Do you have a father or a brother?'
20. And we answered,`We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'
21. "Then you said to your servants,`Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.'
22. And we said to my lord,`The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.'
23. But you told your servants,`Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24. When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
25. "Then our father said,`Go back and buy a little more food.'
26. But we said,`We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27. "Your servant my father said to us,`You know that my wife bore me two sons.
28. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since.
29. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in misery.'
30. "So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life,
31. sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
32. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said,`If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
33. "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
34. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father."
*MESSAGE:*
Recall it was Judah and Reuben who provided alternative means of disposing off of Joseph instead of killing him as previously planned, just to arrest his dreams (Gen. 37:21,22;26-27). Now, imagine the same Judah, unknowingly announcing Joseph’s supposed ‘obituary’ directly to him (vs. 20, 28). The lie they told their father long ago had since become and has remained their reality! And Joseph must have wondered where they saw him being ‘torn to pieces…’! Guilty conscience is a deadly evil. Judah was still able to recall the sequence of events with vivid clarity! How they must have been tormented for 22 years, especially as they saw their father mourn day after day! Evil never pays. Wicked people often make the mistake of thinking that the pain associated with their evil deeds will somehow, soong be forgotten, but how wrong they can be!
Can you count the number of times the phrases “… my lord,” or “…your servants…” appeared in this passage out of cringing fear of “this ruler”? This was the very thing they wanted to prevent based on the dreams Joseph had long ago. What the Lord has decreed concerning our lives, no one can thwart. He is able to accomplish His plans for our lives.
*PRAYER:*
Lord keep me from a lying tongue and uproot every seed of wickedness in me.
*Daily Fountain Quote of the Day*
_"Having the answers is not essential to living. What is essential is the sense of God's presence during dark seasons of questioning."_ — *Ravi Zacharias*
Good morning