Wednesday
Dear Elsie,
Today was a day that was cooking! It was warm and sunny. The breeze blew refreshingly through the house. We opened all the doors.
Outside it was hot.
I went to the beach alone this morning. Mike stayed back – to conserve some energy for the day’s building activities. I swam and then walked to the shops to find pawpaw. Pick n Pay didn’t have but Woolworths did. On the way home, I took a photo of the beach from the other side of the railway line, by Dolphin Park. There was a lot of seaweed in the water. You got a free seaweed wrap.
A full day’s work and then this evening, we had a couple come to see the Little Lookout. Their house is not quite finished and they need a place to lay their head for a week to start. We only have the LL available. They move in on Friday 31st Jan. It’s been a busy month on the rental side.
I’m up to the story of Joseph in Genesis. It is no surprise that his brothers didn’t recognise him when they came to Egypt during the famine. The Governor of Egypt, just one below Pharoah was named Zaphenath-Paneah. That was what Pharoah called Joseph. Fear, respect and reverence of him must have been wide spread. He held so much power. He must have had so many people approaching him for grain that for him to pay special attention to a small unknown group of brothers must have left them bewildered. It’s a couple of decades since they sold Joseph into slavery. Once they had done that, the guilt didn’t go away. The secret remained. The brothers all knew and there, in Egypt, under the scrutiny of the second most powerful man in the land comes this verse…
Genesis 42:21-22
They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us”
What’s interesting is, in Genesis 37, the account of Joseph being sold to the Midianite merchants is covered in one verse (verse 22) and it does not cover Joseph’s distress or his pleading for his life. All it says is, “So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.”
Joseph prospered as a slave, was unfairly imprisoned, yet also prospered as a prisoner. He stayed in jail for longer than he ever expected. At the perfect time, he was released and his rise to power and fame was meteoric and God ordained. God’s plan is always for redemption and He doesn’t waste pain.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂