Virtual Bible Study

Genesis 42:8 “And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.”

It’s estimated that Joseph was about 17 years old when he was sold into slavery by his brothers. By the time we get to our scripture verse (Genesis 42:8) about twenty years have passed. So when we read that Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him, I’m like… what? How could you not recognize your brother?

There are two options for us to consider. One, they cared so little for their youngest brother, they really didn’t spend time with him. Or they were so scared of being in trouble they couldn’t see what was right in front of them. Let’s explore both options.

Respect

As a society, we don’t spend too much time thinking about things we don’t respect. How much time do you spend thinking about that homeless person you drive past 5 days a week? Or that family member that you don’t really like. I guess if 20 years had passed, and they had been hard years, you and I may not recognize them right off the bat.

Fear

If you have ever been scared enough, you may not have been aware of everything around you. Things that are right in front of you may not be obvious (the saving knowledge of the Gospel). In our story, the brothers were in trouble and they were afraid of several things.

We wonder how Joseph felt? Here is your brother (family) who sold you in to slavery 20 years ago and now didn’t even recognize you? Wow! Joseph is a better man than me, because I would have been giving them “the business” right from the jump.

 

Blind Spots

Oh, we all have them in our lives and swear up and down that we don’t. We may even try to explain them away, but as you can see, blind spots can be harmful. Pray that God opens your eyes to see or puts someone in your life to help you see things clearly.

The third option is to pray that God puts a Joseph in your life that you will forgive.

 

Questions

Do you find you let respect or fear create blind spots in your life?

How would you have handled the situation if you were in Joseph’s shoes?

 

Challenge

I challenge us all to keep our eyes focus on what God has in front of us as He has it there for a reason. If you are having a hard time with that, pray that the Holy Spirit helps you to focus.

John 20: 1-16

Focus verse: John 20:14. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Blind spots come in all variations, and today’s blind spot is grief and loss. My dad passed away three days ago, so I can appreciate how our story begins. Mary is weeping over the loss of her Savior. If you’ve lost someone close to you, then you understand how devastating it can be. Mary is standing outside the tomb, looking into the empty tomb.

Now take a minute to think how you’d feel if, when you went to visit, your loved one who just passed was gone. You and I both would freak out because you know that person was placed in the tomb.

There is no one there to ask what’s going on, just silence. All of your emotions are at full boil about your loved one and you finally find someone there you can ask. Through your tears, you desperately ask them where they took your Savior. Only to overlook the fact that you’re talking to your Savior.

Grief and loss can overwhelm us all to the point of seeing the larger picture during those first few days and weeks. While still difficult, if that person who passed was a believer, they were with Jesus. All their pains and sufferings are over and they are experiencing complete joy with their Savior.

On this side of heaven, it’s hard to deal with the loss of a loved one.

But, I would go one step further and say that it doesn’t always take the loss of someone close for us to not recognize the Savior. Sometimes, it’s work, family, health, money, news or maybe you’re what I call a “Self Stressor.”

Life is hard and doesn’t need any help from us to make it more difficult. I pray that we all seek the Savior in every situation of our life. Jesus wants us to rely upon Him for everything because only He can bring us peace. They say 93% of what we worry about never comes true. The self-stressor says, “so I still have that 7% right?”

Questions

Do you struggle alone? Or do you look for Jesus in the storms of life?

Are you going through something right now that you need to turn towards the Savior for help?

 

Challenge

I challenge us all to keep our focus on Jesus, especially in the difficult times of life.

James 1:21-24 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

Short-term memory, senior moments, brain fog, many of us have had that moment that we simply forgot where we were doing. You walk into a room and say, “why did I come in here?” But James is talking about spiritual blindness that we ALL suffer from in our lives. You may read that verse and say, how could anyone look in the mirror and then forget what he looks like when he looks away?

Examples

In church, we hear God’s Word in a way that touches our hearts. We take notes, we nod, say Amen, or even raise our hands because we agree with what’s being said.

Eighteen minutes later, we do the exact thing we learned not to do.

While reading our Bible lesson, we highlight passages and maybe even make notes in the margins or on our phones.

Two hours later, we struggle with the same thing we learned how to overcome in God’s Word.

We spend some time mentoring someone on how to get through some rough patches in their life. We may even pray with them, asking God to move in their lives and give them wisdom, peace and reveal His Will for their life.

Four days later, we struggle with something that we don’t take to God in prayer.

Seems James knew exactly what our patterns were, even if we didn’t.

We have such a blessing being able to read God’s Word as we have examples to learn from people in the Bible. We have examples to follow and we have others to avoid. I know I would often wonder how the Israelites could be so unfaithful with the Pillar of Fire or Cloud leading them. They would see God and then forget Him overnight.

We are just the same. We have the inspired Word of God in our hands to read, reflect, learn and pray over daily. Yet, we still fall into the same patterns over and over.

We seem to forget to remember what God has already done for us.

 

Questions

Do you make time to spend on God’s Word?

Do you have a hard time applying what God reveals to you through His Word?

 

Challenge

I challenge us all to get in the moment with God, be in that moment and stay in that moment. Then, when we get out of that moment, remember that moment.

Job 19 (full chapter)

Focus verse – Job 19:2 How long will you torment me
    and break me into pieces with words?

If you’ve ever read the book of Job, you’re familiar with just how much pain and suffering Job went through in his life. But as I read it again, I realized that Job never knew about the conversations that God and Satan had about him.

All the things that happened to Job and his family simply happened to him. An Angel didn’t come down and give Job a warning, “hey Job, look God and Satan have been talking about you and well, you’re about to be tested.”

A Meeting in Heaven

Job 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

From that moment on, Job was the topic of conversation, and Job would never know about it. To Job, life just happened, and he had to make choices on how to handle what took place.

This brings up a good talking point. Would you want to know of that conversation if you were Job? We don’t know how long Job’s trial lasted, but I’ve seen speculations of 2 – 3.5 years.

While we’ve been talking about blind spots, we create for ourselves or at least embrace, but this one was out of Job’s control. I don’t know if I would want to know about the conversation and I don’t know if I would want to know how long my trial would last.

Just think, if you were convicted for a crime and they told you they were putting you in prison but didn’t tell you for how long. Or if you knew you were going to be in pain for up to 1276 days.

Just as we see with Job, he had nowhere to turn but to the creator of the universe for his rescue. I pray we all seek God when we were are going through hard times as that blind spot may never go away.

 

Questions

Is there something you’ve been “needing” to know, but need to let go of and let God take care of it?

Is there something you’re going through that you need to praise God for, as there may have been a conversation in heaven about you?

 

Uncommen Challenge

I challenge us all to trust in God and His Will for our life. We may not always understand it, but we can rest assured it is for His Glory and that is the best for our lives as well.