From Begging to Best
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph and his brothers in the book of Genesis. If you’re not familiar with it, I highly encourage you to go read it. But in the meantime, I will sum it up. Joseph was one of twelve sons of Jacob. He was Jacob’s favorite son and he loved him more than any of the others. As you can imagine, that upset the other brothers and led them to hate Joseph. One day his brothers had taken their sheep to a pasture near a town called Shechem. Their father sent Joseph to go find them and make sure they were okay. When he finally tracked them down in Dothan, they already had planned to throw him into a well and leave him there. While he was in the well, they decided to sell him to a group called the Ishmaelites. So, they sold him off and then lied to their father, telling them he was killed by an animal.
Joseph ends up being taken in by Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of the Pharaoh’s officials. His master saw that the Lord was with Joseph and gave him in success in everything he did, so he found favor in his master’s eyes and was put in charge of his household and everything he owned. A few years passed and Pharaoh saw the Lord and his goodness blessing Joseph and everything around him, so he basically promoted him and put him in charge of his palace. Fast forward even more, there was a famine that had spread over the whole country which left little to no food for most people. The Egyptians however had plenty of grain they were selling to families. So, Joseph’s brothers traveled all the way to Egypt to buy some grain for their family. At first, his brothers didn’t even recognize him. But eventually, Joseph makes himself known to them. Even after all sinful and hateful acts they committed towards their own brother, he still sends for his brothers and all their families to come back to him, and tells them that Pharaoh will give them the best of Egypt.
Talk about a story of redemption! I have always read this story from Joseph’s perspective, but never from the brother’s perspective. However, recently this one line jumped out to me. In Genesis 45:20, when Pharaoh found out about the brothers of Joseph, he said “Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.” This time while reading through this story, I felt the best way to describe the brothers was to use the phrase “from begging to best.” Even though they betrayed their own brother by selling him and lying to their own father, God still redeemed them and saved them. He had redeemed Joseph’s heart, his brother’s hearts, and their relationships with each other. He still blessed them. The best of all Egypt was available to them now. In an instant, they went from begging for scraps to the best of all Egypt.
How many times have you felt like you deserved the worst, but God blessed you with his best? How many times has God shown you grace and redeemed you from your sinful ways? I’m going to guess that it’s probably too many to count! That’s the character of God! He’s a redeemer, he’s kind, and he’s loving. He gives us blessings that we don’t deserve. Maybe it’s something small like a second chance in a friendship when we messed up. Or maybe it’s the biggest and best gift of all…being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross, even though we deserve death.
If you take anything away from this story, I hope that it’s this: there is nothing too broken that God can’t restore, and nothing too bad or hopeless that God can’t redeem. God not only protected and gave favor to Joseph, but he also redeemed his lawless and sinful brothers. If God can take them from begging to His best, can’t he do that with me? With you?
Lord, where have I been sinful? Where have I been begging? Will you redeem it and give me your best? I want all of you and what you have for me.
Challenges:
First, I challenge you to read this story in Genesis. Whether you have read it before or this will be your first time, I encourage you to read through it with the “begging to best” perspective. I really believe that it will touch you in a new and beautiful way.
Write it down. Think of a few ways that the Lord has redeemed you when you were “begging” and brought you to his best. This allows us to acknowledge the work God is doing in our lives and show our gratitude towards him.
Stay in prayer. Pray that Lord would continue to redeem you from your brokenness and that you would be able to recognize it. Pray for the Lord to open your eyes to areas of your life bound by sin or “begging” and ask him to free you from it.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for this beautiful day! Thank you for your grace over our mistakes and that you love us endlessly, no matter what. Thank you for redemption! That you never fail to pull us out of the sinful pits that we find ourselves in. I pray that we would always be reminded of your goodness and that when you redeem us, we would praise you forevermore. Thank you that we are not held down by the bondage of our sin, but we are set free by you and the work done on the cross! Thank you for stories in the Bible that we can learn from and that push us to know you better so we can look more like you every day. You are a good Father. We love you and give you all the honor and praise. In Jesus’ name! Amen!