Genesis 45 - Key

v26

And told him, saying, Joseph [is] yet alive, and he [is] governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.

Like Joseph's family, we're on a journey to a great place where Jesus is. Jesus, who was dead, is alive, and He wants to save us. He's the Lord of all and has great glory. He wants us to be close to Him, so He's called for us. There's a great reward there, and the Lord has also sent provision for us along the way. All we need to do is believe in Him, when people bring us the message about Him, and we can be saved.

v24

So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.

The Lord has provided everything we need to do what's right on our journey of life, and He's given us His great and precious promises, but even after all these great things, we can still get sidetracked by things in this world, and easily miss out. The Lord has great rewards in store for us, to be near Him and enjoy all the good of His promised land, but we can misuse the good things He's given us, and loose some of our rewards.

After everything else, why did Joseph feel like it was necessary to tell them, See that ye fall not out by the way? The only way they could get sidetracked would be if they didn't trust Joseph. I can imagine them thinking:

How could he really have forgiven us all the way? He's just looking for another opportunity to get revenge. We have all this stuff he's sent with us, so we should just take it and start over in a new place. There aren't really going to be 5 more years of famine, He just said that to fool us.

I've seen people do just that, with the Lord. It's hard to believe that the Lord is so good and kind, like He says He is, and that He has enough grace and mercy to just forgive us all the way, for free, without us doing some great thing to pay for our own sin. We can forget that we've been forgiven.

v3b,4a,5

...And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence...

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you...

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Application

I get into some situations where I know the Lord has done everything for me, and provided everything I need to do the right thing, but I can still get side-tracked from doing what He wants me to.

For example, I can pray for Him to help me get up on time in the morning, and I can set both my alarm clocks, and go to bed early enough the night before; But, when the alarm clock goes off, and I know the Lord wants me to get up, but I feel tired, I can so easily just turn it off and go back to sleep.

In cases like that, I'm going to work more on making sure that I don't fall out by the way.