The famine was severe over all the earth. Genesis 41:57
God often breaks into our lives through unexpected events that are completely beyond our control. That began to happen to Joseph’s brothers through a famine. The brothers found themselves in need. This had not happened to them before.
“Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt… So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt” (42:1, 3). When they arrived in Egypt, “Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him” (42:8). Joseph recognized his brothers because nothing about them had changed. They were just twenty years older. But Joseph, having been elevated to the highest position in Egypt, looked very different from the last time the brothers had seen him.
David Searle comments, “Joseph’s head would have been shaved, his scalp oiled and his face and eyebrows painted with cosmetics as befitted his status as an Egyptian aristocrat.” He would be wearing the long flowing robes of an Egyptian governor and speaking another language, making him unrecognizable to his brothers.
Some are critical of Joseph for the way he dealt with his brothers, but what he did was used by God to bring about a remarkable change. The change began when Joseph put his brothers together in custody for three days (Gen. 42:17). God’s hand was beginning to rouse their sleepy conscience.
How about you? Perhaps there are ways in which God is breaking into your life by disturbing your peace. Things seem to be going along well and then something unexpected and quite beyond your control happens. Trouble comes to your family, you are moved from your job, a secret is revealed, or there is an issue with your health.
Everything is changed. Life cannot go on as it did before. Through this event God has disturbed your peace. This is often how He first begins to awaken the conscience.
Has God disturbed your peace recently? How so?
