Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, September 29, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The same dream interpretation that made Joseph’s brothers hate him so much now made Joseph the second most powerful man in Egypt. It just goes to show that while God gives each of us diverse and wonderful gifts, how we use those gifts in the world can bring strife or peace. A financial genius could spend all their time amassing incomprehensible wealth or work toward creating economic systems that raise people out of poverty. A gifted orator could inspire people to acts of selfless love or stir up division and hatred. Our gifts can be self-serving, as when Joseph bragged to his brothers about how his dreams meant they would one day bow down to him, or other-serving, as when Joseph warned Pharaoh about the coming famine and then offered a way to get around it. Mind you, Joseph was richly rewarded for using his gift for others—he gained incredible power. But it is worth noting that he did not use it except to follow through on saving Egypt from the famine. We ought to examine our own gifts, of which we all have many, and allow ourselves to wonder and be creative about how we might use them in ways pleasing to God for the sake of others.
What things am I good at? How can I (or do I) use them to bring love into the world?
![Jonah 1:1-17; 3:1-10 [4:1-11], Jonah and God’s Mercy](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/6bbb490e-4992-4659-a8be-02d8397d68af/24-11-10.jpg)