I read this morning about Joseph’s brothers.\u00a0\u00a0 They traveled to Egypt to buy grain.\u00a0 When they got there, Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him.\u00a0\u00a0They bought their grain, then Joseph had their sacks filled and loaded on their donkeys . . . with a little surprise.\u00a0 On the way back home, they stopped to take a break.\u00a0 When they opened their sacks, they found their money in the top of the grain sack.\u00a0\u00a0 Now they thought they were being framed.\u00a0 It looked like they got the grain but never paid for it.\u00a0 So they high-tailed it home with the grain AND the money.<\/p>\n
In time, the grain ran out and they had to go back for more.\u00a0 When they got there, Joseph had them shuffled off to his house.\u00a0 As they entered the house, they were afraid they were walking into a trap.\u00a0 They were sure to be in trouble for taking the grain and not paying for it.\u00a0\u00a0 So they confessed to Joseph’s steward\u00a0and the steward says \u201cEverything is fine.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks.\u00a0 I had your money.”\u00a0 \u00a0The steward knew they had paid.\u00a0 He was the one that put the money back in the sacks.\u00a0 But he also\u00a0knew that it was God who controlled it all.\u00a0 It was God who really gave the treasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
God has given you treasure in your sacks.\u00a0 I don’t know why, but I just like the sound of that.\u00a0\u00a0 I think maybe it has special meaning in an economy that seems out of control.\u00a0 Perhaps it serves as a gentle reminder that regardless of who signs my paycheck, it is God who really provides, often in unexpected ways.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Or maybe, perhaps, it’s that it seems to convey a spiritual truth in a slightly whimsical way.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, I can’t help but grin a little when I realize that God can and will use others to surprise me with a treasure . . .\u00a0in\u00a0a sack.<\/p>\n
See Genesis 42 & 43\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I read this morning about Joseph’s brothers.\u00a0\u00a0 They traveled to Egypt to buy grain.\u00a0 When they got there, Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him.\u00a0\u00a0They bought their grain, then Joseph had their sacks filled and loaded on their donkeys . . . with a little surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}