Finishing out Genesis chapter 43 in our series, Joseph: A Life with Many Colors, Joseph sees his full brother Benjamin for the first time.  Overcome with emotion, Joseph abandons his duties as host and goes to weep in his private room.

Genesis 43:31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”

What must the steward and servers have thought?  What must his brothers have thought?  Joseph is not just a sensitive guy.  He was well-built and handsome, remember?  He’s not a child anymore, but a grown man with children.  What was it about this particular group of Hebrews that made Joseph want to honor them by inviting them to dine with him? What about them caused such emotion for him?  In the flow of the story, the brothers are left to reconcile this mystery for now.

Genesis 43:32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians.  33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

Think about it:

• The Egyptians did not eat with either Joseph or his brothers. The brothers were served from Joseph’s table.  How might that raise questions for the brothers or make them see Joseph differently? 
• The brothers’ astonishment only grew as they were seated in birth order.  How did this draw attention to Benjamin being the youngest?
• When Benjamin was given 5 times as much as anyone else, how did this amplify the test of whether the brothers were changed men?
• They all ate and drank freely.  What does this say about the fairness of this test?
• Read Malachi 3:10  “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”  In what way did the brothers’ bringing Benjamin act in the same way, testing Joseph’s word while he was testing them?

I’d say it’s hard to believe we’re only a month away from Advent 2019, but I just finished shoveling Halloween snow here in Illinois so I’m not stuck with more leftover candy than I should eat.  Therefore, it’s time to plan for Advent devotionals and announce this year’s theme: “God’s Christmas List.” 

“Aw, come’on,” you protest, “God doesn’t need a Christmas List!”

Granted, God has no needs for Himself.  He’d be the ultimate hard-to-buy-for if He was on our gift-giving list.  But the good news is this list does not indicate what He wants for Himself, but what He wants for us.  In Christ, we are on His gift-giving list.

I came to this theme in an odd way this year, and of course, it gets harder every year I do these.  (After all, how do you tell the same story without being repetitive?) All the prior years’ series are linked below so you can see, it’s been a few different ways.  This year, I was thinking about a song that gets me choked up every time.  Maybe it’s because I have grown children and young grandchildren.  Maybe it’s because the world we’re living in right now is so tumultuous.  But maybe the best reason is my heart longs for the childlike innocence missing in so much of life these days.

What is the name of the song that gets me choked up?  Grown-Up Christmas List. Perhaps you know it, too.  If you’d like to hear it, here is Michael Bublé whose golden voice is clear as a Christmas bell.

While David Foster’s version with Natalie Cole was the original, it never rose on the charts the way it did with other artists, notably Kelly Clarkson and Amy Grant.

Listening to it anew this year, it occurred to me how many of the things in this song’s lyrics God would wish for us. Peace, love, and joy that God wants for our benefit. How? As we receive through Him, His inexplicable gift: Jesus Christ, His Son and our Savior born in Bethlehem that Christmas Day!  He wants us to come to Him in innocence as a small child. But with faith–faith enough to know that material things of this world will never satisfy the way He can by giving us His peace.  That’s the message of these secular lyrics (written by Linda Thompson-Jenner) reflectively sung to Santa, but as a grown-up Christmas list. The second verse goes like this:

• As children we believed
• The grandest sight to see
• Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree
• Well heaven surely knows
• That packages and bows
• Can never heal a hurting human soul.
• No more lives torn apart,
• Then wars would never start
• and time would heal the heart
• And everyone would have a friend
• And right would always win
• And love would never end, oh
• This is my grown-up Christmas List

Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.