Lenten Devotions 2

Now that Lent has come and gone and we are now officially into the season of Easter, I want to do something I meant to do throughout Lent. As you may know, Fourth Church puts out daily devotions that are available via email, on the website, or in print each week. Most of the time, these are written by members of the Fourth Church staff. During special seasons of the church year, like Lent, we also invite members of the congregation to contribute to these. This year's Lent devotions were excellent, and several of them were written by Fourth Church youth or adults associated with the youth program. As something of a Lenten retrospective, I want to post these Fourth Church Youth devotions on this blog, in case you missed them before. Thanks to all who worked hard on writing these!

Scripture Reading: Genesis 46:28–47:6

Reflection
This passage is essentially the happy ending to Jacob’s story. After long years of believing his beloved son Joseph dead, Jacob is not only reunited with Joseph, but finds Joseph to be a wealthy, powerful man. All the bitterness Joseph may have felt at being sold into slavery by his brothers leaves him when he sees Benjamin and his brothers’ protection of Benjamin, so Joseph welcomes the whole family into Egypt, using his influence to give them good land for raising their livestock so that they will not starve, despite the continuing drought.

Such a happy ending is satisfying to read because in our busy lives it is often hard to see God’s plan for us. We all have uncertainty about what the future may hold; we wait to hear back from colleges, doctors, faraway significant others, and what have you. There are times when it is hard to trust that God holds us all in the palm of his hand, when life seems senseless and we are overwhelmed by the fear that there will be no comfortable retirement, no grandchildren, no happy ending. It is good then to read about Jacob who, after all the troubles in his long life, is reunited with his son and lives out his last days content, his sons cared for and his legacy through them assured.

Prayer
God, make me strong to always trust in the future provided by you and to trust that, like Jacob, I have a happy ending awaiting me. Amen.

Written by Cassandra Kildow, Fourth Church Youth senior in high school