WEBVTT

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Day 17, or January the 17th. Our God is totally

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reliable. Our thought today is rooted in Genesis

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chapter 50, verses 24 and 25. God will surely

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come to your aid. God will surely come to your

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aid. Now the big picture surrounding these verses.

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Joseph brings both of his sons born in Egypt

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to his father Israel for a blessing. This usually

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only happened to sons, not grandsons, but Jacob

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says that he will treat them as sons, just the

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same as Reuben and Simeon, etc. He blesses them

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and treats Ephraim as the elder, just the same

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as Jacob had been treated as the elder over Esau

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many years earlier. Jacob then proceeded to bless

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all his other sons as his death approached. When

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he dies, Jacob is treated as an Egyptian nobleman.

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He is embalmed and mourned nationally for seventy

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days. Joseph dutifully takes his father and buries

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him in Hebron, in the same cave that contained

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his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. Joseph's

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brothers are scared now. They fear reprisals

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from Joseph, now that their father has died,

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but Joseph reassures them that he's not looking

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for revenge. When Joseph dies, he's buried in

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Egypt on the understanding that when his people

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do leave Egypt for the Promised Land, he will

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be taken with them for burial. He was willing

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to wait. And now our action step for today. In

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two consecutive verses, we are reassured by this

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lovely truth that God always comes to the rescue.

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Even in the darkest hours, Joseph knows that

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his God would come to his aid. Even when he was

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sold into slavery, even when he was unjustly

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imprisoned, through it all, Joseph knew that

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his God would come to his aid. If you are going

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through good times at the moment, it's easy to

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say amen to this. If you are going through trials

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and difficulties, it stretches your faith sometimes

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to believe this, but it is nevertheless true.

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The account of Joseph is so reassuring, and it's

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not because he was his father's favourite. It's

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because he trusted God in good times and in bad.

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Trusting can become a habit; one of the best

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you can ever develop.