Blessing Pharaoh

Genesis 47:1-12

Blessing Pharaoh

Matt Williams Updated Staff Photo

Matt Williams

Teaching Pastor; Staff Governing Elder; Staff Director

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Key Points

  • As much as we try to understand our own stories, we have a limited perspective and can’t see how our story is embedded in God’s larger story.

  • Joseph uses his influence to provide for his family. Leadership is a form of servanthood that blesses others. God’s people are supposed to use their position and capabilities to be a blessing to others.

  • In Goshen, Jacob’s family will be able to maintain a separate identity from Egyptian culture. Maintaining a distinct identity from the larger culture is a significant theme in Scripture that God’s people are called to uphold. Often, we as believers are afraid of being on the fringe of mainstream culture, but there is a sense in which we need to be “temporary residents and foreigners” (1 Peter 2:11).

  • When we experience suffering or reach a point in our lives when life is tapering off, it leads us to think of ourselves as “sojourners” and to look forward to the better world believers will experience in future glory (Hebrews 11:13-14).