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自从约瑟被卖到埃及已经过了20年了，雅各依然认为约瑟已经死了，在这个家中发生了很多事情，对约瑟来说也是一样。（参创 39-41）如今，一场大的饥荒临到了全地，而只有埃及地有粮食供应让人可以存活。当他让儿子们去籴粮的时候，雅各只是想到食物，他完全没有想到自己的家庭戏剧会如何展开。

但神知道一切。经历一系列的波波折折，神正在恢复雅各破碎的家庭生活。

现在的约瑟已经是埃及的宰相，他会考验他的兄弟的品格；而神也会帮助他们的父亲雅各对人生无助的境地有更多的学习。雅各会学习到神那改变生命的信实。

在一切你想不到的地方，神或许正在教导你要仰望祂的作为，你知道吗？神救赎的戏剧有时候发生在我们很难想像的地方。藉着恩典，神教导我们，我们无法绕过我们的罪性和缺点；但神已经赐下了救主来拯救我们，让我们跟随耶稣，可以存活不至于死。

More than two decades had now passed since Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. Jacob still thought that Joseph was dead, and much had happened in the life of this family, as well as in the life of Joseph. (see Genesis 39-41) But now, a great famine had come over the land, and only Egypt had the resources to help keep people alive. So Jacob was focused on food, and he had no idea of the great family drama that would play out when he sent his sons to buy grain.

But God knew. All through the twists and turns of this drama, God was working to restore Jacob's fractured family life.

Joseph, who was now a major ruler in Egypt, would test the character of his brothers, and God would help their father, Jacob, learn more about his helplessness in the face of life's circumstances. Jacob would also learn more about God's life-giving faithfulness.

Where might God be teaching you to watch for his work in unexpected places? The divine drama of redemption sometimes plays out in circumstances we can hardly imagine. In grace, God teaches us that we cannot maneuver around our own sins and shortcomings. But God has provided the Savior to restore us so that by following Jesus we too may "live and not die."