God’s Plan Is Bigger
Day 41 · Genesis 45:7-8
📖 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Genesis 45:7-8 (NIV)
“But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.”
Today’s John 15 thread: The Vine doesn’t bear fruit just for one branch. It bears fruit for the whole vineyard and for everyone who comes near. Joseph thought his dreams were about his family bowing down to him. God’s plan stretched to feed entire nations. When you stay connected to the Vine, the fruit that comes through you will always be bigger than what you imagined for yourself.
✍️ REFLECTION
When Joseph was seventeen years old and shared his dream, his brothers and even his parents bowing down to him, he probably pictured something relatively small. His family. His household. His little world. He had no way of knowing what was actually being prepared.
Seven years of abundance. Seven years of famine. Nations coming from all over the world to Egypt to buy food. Pharaoh directing people: “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.” The dream he dreamed was true, but the scale was nothing like what he imagined.
Q1: Is it possible you have been thinking too small about what God might be doing through your life? What if what He is building in and through you is meant to reach further than just your family or your immediate circle?
This is what Genesis 41:56-57 says: “And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe throughout the world.” All the countries. Joseph started as a slave. He went through prison. He was forgotten for two years. And God placed him in the exact position, at the exact time, to be the answer for nations. The suffering was not random. The waiting was not wasted. Every step of what Joseph went through was shaping him for something far bigger than he understood while he was in it.
Q2: What are you going through right now that you can’t yet see the purpose of? What if God is preparing you for something that will reach further than you can currently see?
Paul says in Philippians 1:6 that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. God is not half-hearted about what He starts. He does not begin a work and abandon it. He carries it through. What He started in you, the gifts, the experiences, even the suffering, He will complete. Not just for your sake, but for the sake of everyone who will be touched by your life.
Q3: How does it change the way you think about your own struggles and growth to know that what God is building in you is not just for you, but for others?
🌿 REMAIN IN HIM
Take a moment before you move on. This isn’t a to-do. It’s an invitation to stay.
Reflect honestly: Have you been stuck thinking small, only about what God might do in your immediate situation? Lift your eyes a little. Ask Him to show you the bigger picture.
Bring it to Jesus: Tell Him: “I want to trust that You are not done. That what You started in me, You will complete. Help me not get stuck at just my family or my own comfort, but to trust You for something bigger.”
Trust the Gardener: The Gardener plants the Vine not just for one branch but for a whole harvest. Stay connected. The fruit will come and it will feed more people than you expect.
🙏 PRAYER
Father, I confess I often think too small. I want Your blessing for me and my family, and that’s not wrong. But help me to see that what You are building in me is meant to go further. Like Joseph, let me be in the right place at the right time for the right reason. And until that time comes, keep building. Keep working. I trust that he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
💡 MEMORY VERSE
Philippians 1:6 (NIV): “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
This post is part of the Abide in Him Daily devotional series, reading Scripture through the lens of John 15:1–17. The branch doesn’t manufacture the fruit. It bears it because it stays connected to the Vine.
