First Impressions

“The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land." - Genesis 42:30

Partway through the account of Joseph in Genesis, Joseph has been promoted to second in command in Egypt. During the massive famine that ravaged the land, Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to purchase food. By this point, it had been a considerable number of years ago that they had sold Joseph into slavery and they assumed he had likely died or been killed. They would have never guessed that the harsh Egyptian lord who stood before them could possibly be their long lost younger brother, and they certainly didn't think that this encounter could end up leading to one of the greatest blessings their family could have (an invitation to come set up residence on a nice parcel of land in that region!).

The fact is this: things aren't always what they seem- we can't take everything at face value or first impressions. When my friend and I were walking through Seattle, we didn't think terribly much of that iPhone billboard at the time. It was just another advertisement among many. Well, guess what? Later that day, it turned out to be the one landmark that enabled us to find our car after nearly two hours of searching! You just never know what God could use to ultimately bring about His blessings.