For a long time after my mother died, the expression "you just gave me a heart attack" or some variation upset me. It triggered the memory of the morning she died and I relived the pain each time I heard that phrase. In time that phrase lost it's sting.
As we go through life, we experience more of these painful experiences and accumulate hidden phrases that can bring back the pain we felt in that moment in time. God has been reminding me this past week to watch my words. He's been using Ephesians to remind me. Ephesians 4:29b says "Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. " I don't want my words to remind people of their past pain.
Joseph's brothers must have bristled every time the word's Egypt or Joseph were mentioned. When they sold Joseph they must have known that's probably where he ended up. Now, in order to save their lives and the lives of their family, they had to go to the land who's name brought fear and regret to their hearts.
Genesis 42:1-5 NLT
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt
1 When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another? 2 I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise we’ll die.”
3 So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4 But Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him. 5 So Jacob’s sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well.
Blessings, Cecilia
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