“And they sat before him. The firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement.”
– Genesis 43:33
I just have to smile when I picture this scene. You got all of Joseph’s brothers, they still don’t know who he is. But they’re sitting at this table, like feasting on the Prime Minister’s food. Looking around saying, “What in the world are we doing here? How did we get into this situation?”
So they had sold their brother into slavery, and unbeknownst to them, their brother is now the Prime Minister in Egypt. And they are feasting on his food. They totally do not deserve this. And they are amazed by the goodness being shown to them. That picture is a summary and a sense of my life, your life, our lives as followers of Christ.
By God’s grace in Christ, we know God and we are His forever.
We’re about to pray to the God of the universe who we know. That the king of the universe, not the Prime Minister of a country, or the president of a country that we might be honored to sit with this or that world leader. We’re about to pray to, spend time with, speak to the God of the universe. Who we know, who knows us by name, who we enjoy, who we worship, who we’re going to be with forever in his kingdom. Where we will forever feast on his goodness. Oh, what a picture of how God works!
These brothers did not deserve this and none of us deserve what we’re doing right now. None of us deserve the kind of relationship that we have with the king of the universe, God himself!.
This Verse Leads Us to Thank God For Prayer
So we pray, Oh God, with amazement we pray to you. Thank you, thank you for letting us be at your table. Thank you for letting us feast on your word, on your goodness. For the privilege of communion with you, of lifting our hearts to you. God we are in amazement right now, wherever we are. Whether driving in a car, running somewhere, sitting in an office. Wherever we are, God we are in amazement that we are talking to you, that you are listening to us. That though we are sinners and we don’t realize all the ways we’ve sinned against you just like these brothers in Genesis 43:33.
Yet you allow us to be with you. Not only allows us, you invite us to be with you. You pour out blessing, after blessing, after blessing upon our lives. So we just sit here amazed in your presence. Thank you for your grace. Help us never ever to cease to be amazed by such grace.In Jesus’ name we pray, we praise you. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
