Off to Egypt
Monday, Oct. 12
Genesis 45:25 – 47:12 Read it here Listen to it here
Sometimes things work out.
In so many of the stories we’ve come across so far there has been conflict, and even the happy endings come with a shadow hanging over them.
Yes, change is difficult. Jacob being asked to leave the land God has promised to him and his descendants might even feel like he’s giving up on God or not trusting God’s promise.
Yet God speaks to Jacob and says, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.”
It’s frightening to change direction. Jacob doesn’t know if this is just a detour, or if everything he has expected is now a vain hope. God’s promise is that it is a detour that is necessary and will be a blessing by making God’s people into a great nation there.
While we know there will be tough times to come in the future, the story of Jacob is headed for a happy conclusion: the son he thought was dead still lives, and the family finds safety and freedom from the famine in Egypt. For now, life is good.
In our haste to get on with the story, let’s not forget that along the way there were many good times. Even the list of the sons of Israel’s sons, while not exciting reading, reminds us that the years between Joseph’s betrayal and the eventual journey to Egypt had a lot of good times: marriages, births and all the celebrations that come with family life.
And let’s not forget that it’s the suffering the people will endure as slaves in Egypt that will bond them into the great people God has promised they will be, and will pave the way for their understanding of what God’s liberation truly is.
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If you think ahead to the New Testament you’ll remember that this is not the only time a man named Joseph finds safety for his family in Egypt.
Monday meditation
Proverbs 5:7-14
Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another.
At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”
Prayer focus
We thank you, Lord, for the many good times of life, even when those good times seem to just be brief breaks in the turmoil surrounding them. Keep our focus on your blessings that we may not turn aside when temptation calls.
-Rev. Mark Fleming