Reformed Devotionals Daily Podcast

Asking for help is a humbling thing. We live in a world where we value independence and a “I can do it myself” attitude. But sometimes we find ourselves at the end of ourselves and we realise we have to ask for help. Even that realisation itself can humble us. Well that is where Joseph and his family find themselves. The famine in the land is so severe that they have to give up Canaan, the promise...

A number of years ago as a family we faced a decision. Do we stay in Tasmania so I could become the pastor of one of the Tasmanian Reformed churches, or do we move back to Melbourne, back home, but without any surety of a call to any congregation. After much debate we decided to move back to Melbourne, even though I had no immediate pastoral prospects and my wife was pregnant with our first becaus...

Have you ever carried a secret so heavy that when you finally spoke it, the words came out in a rush of tears? That’s Joseph here in Genesis 45 and this is one of my favourite parts of the Joseph narrative. Let’s have a look. Genesis 45 (ESV) Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made...

Have you ever had a moment when your past actions have suddenly caught up with you? When something you thought was buried came rushing back, and you had no choice but to face it? That’s what happens to Joseph’s brothers in Genesis 44. Genesis 44 (ESV) Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his...

Have you ever been in a situation where you had no choice but to face something you had been avoiding? That’s where Jacob and his sons find themselves in Genesis 43. Genesis 43 (ESV) Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned u...

Have you ever had the experience where something you thought you got away with, comes back to bite you? Maybe it was some secret sin you committed, which turns out to be not so secret. Maybe it is something you have felt guilty about for a long time, and the guilt just grew and grew until it became a burden to you. We see something of that in our passage today. Today I am going to try something a...

Have you ever noticed how quickly life can turn around? Joseph goes from prison rags to royal robes in a single day. That’s what we see in the rest of Genesis 41. Genesis 41:37–57 (ESV) This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, the...

Genesis 41:1–36 (ESV) After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows...

Have you ever felt forgotten by people, maybe even by God? Genesis 40 tells us about Joseph in prison, waiting, hoping, and being left behind. Genesis 40 (ESV) Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custo...

Have you ever been in a situation where saying no cost you something important? Genesis 39 shows us Joseph in exactly that place. He refuses temptation, but instead of being rewarded, he ends up in prison. Genesis 39 (ESV) Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him do...

Have you ever wondered why God includes the stories in Scripture that make us uncomfortable? Genesis 38 is one of those chapters. It interrupts Joseph’s story to tell us about Judah and Tamar, a messy and incestuous episode. But God put it here on purpose, let’s find out what that is. Genesis 38 (ESV) It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adu...

Genesis 37:12–36 (ESV) Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to...

Genesis 37:1–11 (ESV) Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, becau...

Genesis 36:1–43 (ESV) These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Es...

Genesis 35:16–29 (ESV) Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she wa...

Genesis 35:1–15 (ESV) God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar t...

Genesis 34:1–31 (ESV) Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, say...

Genesis 33:1–20. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he cam...

Genesis 32:23–32 (ESV) He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “...

Genesis 32:1-22 (ESV) Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed...

Genesis 31:22–55 (ESV) When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in...

Genesis 31:1–21 (ESV) Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah i...

Genesis 30:25–43 (ESV) As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Nam...

Genesis 30:14–24 (ESV) In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for you...

Genesis 30:1–13 (ESV) When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have...