JUST SHEPHERDS

“Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ They answered Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors.’”
Genesis 47:3

Jacob, his sons, and their families, had made it to Egypt. From Joseph’s instruction, they were to make their way to the land of Goshen. It was here in Goshen that Joseph insisted that they live, for the land produced the best fields and crops for their animals, but also because being a shepherd was an occupation frowned upon by the Egyptians. But even this idea took planning. Knowing how Pharaoh would react, as well as other Egyptians, Joseph spoke with his brothers ahead of time. It was in this time of chat that Joseph had advised his brothers to admit to their occupation of shepherding. And it was because of these skills that Pharaoh also asked the men to care for his animals as well. While the brothers were honest in sharing that they were ‘just shepherds’, God was working behind the scenes to both protect and work with His people.
Sometimes I find it hard to admit. When I was single the questions would arise as to if I am divorced, who has custody of the kids, how much do I pay in support, who filed against who and why, and do I ever plan to get married again. While I had answers to all these questions, I always found myself leaving the conversation with the idea of ‘failure’ in mind. It was as if I was standing before Pharaoh and being asked, “What is your marital status?” With timidity I found myself responding, “I am divorced.” How great of an answer is that? If I was embarrassed to share it at times, how could any good come from it? It was in those moments I had to open my eyes and see my Goshen.
Goshen wasn’t the land that God had promised, but it was the land in which God preserved His people. And although it would be four hundred years before they returned to their homeland, it was four hundred years of His people thriving off the best that Egypt had to offer. I have learned to see it the same way. Divorce was never the route I expected, but it was the route that brought me the closest to God. And although I had to wait five years before the right woman came around, I knew that God was preserving me and allowing me to thrive in His blessings as a single man until He saw fit to change it. They may have been ‘just shepherds’, and I may have been ‘divorced’, but God had everything in His hands and was working it all out for His glory.
So how about you? When you stand before Pharaoh and he asks your occupation, or status, or any question about you, do you too find yourself timid to answer? Do you find yourself wanting to tell a lie for fear of the embarrassment of the truth? Perhaps what I learned, and in ways am still learning is the same lesson you find yourself learning. Although we may not be in the place we were once promised, we are in the place where God is preserving us and calling us closer to Him. Let us then not live in the mindset of ‘just shepherds’, but instead embrace what we can learn and grow from while in Goshen.