3.075 All These Things are Against Me
Show Notes
In this Savory Salt episode, Allen Roberds reflects on Jacob's poignant cry in Genesis 42:36, "All these things are against me," exploring feelings of being overwhelmed by life's challenges and the perceived loss of his sons. Discover how to shift focus from negativity and despair to recognizing God's guiding hand, even when circumstances seem stacked against you. This reflection offers practical insights into trusting divine guidance one step at a time amidst adversity and finding spiritual resilience.
Key Points
- Explore Jacob's despair in Genesis 42:36, where he feels everything is against him after the presumed loss of Joseph and Simeon, and the threat to Benjamin.
- Contrast Jacob's focus on the negative with Joseph's remarkable resilience and ability to bounce back despite significant trials and false accusations.
- Learn a practical approach to managing difficult moments by focusing on asking the Lord to light the next step, rather than dwelling on overwhelming negativity.
- Understand that even amidst present frustration and trials, the Lord is actively putting the pieces of His divine plan together for our lives.
- Be encouraged to step forward in faith, seeking the Lord's guidance for the immediate path forward to overcome life's challenges and come out on top.
My friends, in those bad moments of our days, can we take the opportunity to ask the Lord not to show us the whole plan, not to give us all the answers, but to simply light the next step in our lives.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.
Hello my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.
You ever felt like the world was just stacked against you and anything that could possibly go wrong is the next thing that goes wrong in your life? You're not alone and we have some insights as to how to help that. We're beginning this week in Genesis chapter 42 as we read 42 through 50.
We're going to get into the part of the story where Joseph is going to see his brothers, the very brothers, that sold him into slavery. Twenty, twenty-two, somewhere like that, twenty, twenty-two years before. Now remember, when he was sold into slavery he was only 17, so he now lived more than half of his life away from his family.
Can you imagine the emotions going through him? But it's actually the other side of the family I want to focus on to get started this week. Let's get straight to our verse.
It's in Genesis chapter 42. Near the tail end of the chapter, we see an interesting perspective from Joseph's father, Jacob, who is Israel. In verse 36 it says this, And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children?
Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away? All these things are against me. Now we don't have hardly any of the story of the 20 years of what's been happening with the brothers and with Jacob and Israel during this time.
And we only have Joseph's story, but it appears here in this little segment that Jacob is stuck on the loss of his children. Now that, don't get me wrong, that's going to be a very heavy thing as a parent, right? But it seems like that last line, all these things are against me, is a line that I've said in modern terms many times in my life and perhaps you have as well.
Things like, 'Ah, of course that happened in my life!' 'Oh, that's awful!' My friends, there's a way that we can get out of this. I once heard someone talk about how nobody ever had a bad day ever. They had a bad moment and made the rest of their day bad because of it.
And I thought that was really interesting. And he said, 'You know, no one ever had a bad week. No one ever had a bad month.
They had a bad moment. But then they bought into that bad moment and continued to focus on the bad and the negative.' Look at Jacob the father here versus Joseph the son. Again, we don't have the full story, but it appears here that Jacob is focused on all things being against him.
He can only see the negative happening. Joseph, on the other hand, has been thrown into prison and people lie against him, false testimonies. How does he seem to bounce back?
It seems like Joseph... This week I want you to see the Lord's hand. While they're in their present moments of frustration and trial, the Lord is putting the pieces together.
It reminded me of one of my favorite favorite combinations of hymns that I ever heard. It comes from Kenneth Cope. He wrote a series of hymns on an album years ago called "A Prayer Unto Thee" and it's a combination of hymns and whatnot.
I'll put the link in here to one of my favorites. It's a combination of "I Need Thee Every Hour" and "Lead, Kindly Light". My friends, in those bad moments of our days, can we take the opportunity to ask the Lord not to show us the whole plan, not to give us all the answers, but to simply light the next step in our lives.
If we will focus there rather than focus that all things are against us, we will be able to get through the challenges of life and ultimately come out on top. I truly believe that. That's all for today, my friends.
You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.