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Genesis 46:1-39 - No Fear! - Part 3
So Israel got to see that his son, whom he thought he lost, was still alive! Joseph told his family he was going to talk to the Pharaoh about them. We now conclude this chapter.
So, From Abraham down to the time of these 12 sons, this family went from 2 to 70, and that period of time was 215 years. I want us to see this - from this point on there’s going to be 430 years, roughly twice that, when they will come out of Egypt, the Exodus from Egypt we read about in the book of Exodus.
So 215 years - 2 to 70, just twice that, 430 years, from 70 to 2 or 3 million!!! Get ahold of that!
Just this expansion of prosperity and blessing, and where did it all start? Right here! Coming to that place of honesty and who you are before God.
So what the Word of God is clearly showing us very strongly is that if you desire to come into that period of multiplication and blessing where God can really prosper and develop you, it starts with droppin’ the mask, dropping the charade, losing the veneer, and just being real with your heavenly Father.
As we are nearing the end of Genesis I think it’s no surprise that God chooses to use unreliable knuckleheads - as well as the surprising way in which He uses them.
He decided that Joseph was easily the best person for this particular stage in His plan.
- He also determined that the best place for him was in Egypt,
- and the most suitable position for him as the Pharaoh’s second-hand man as governor of Egypt,
- and the plan for getting him there was using the wicked behavior of his brothers, and the sad occasion of a massive famine.
God has shown through the ages that He will not be blocked in His purposes and He will use whatever is available at any given moment to bring the things of His choosing to pass.
We should never become so fearful that things will come unglued that we forget that God will make everything stick together long enough to bring about what He intends.
If God’s purposes and practices are surprising, how much more so are the people He uses?
It’s not surprising that He will use a Joseph, but people like him are few and far between!
People like Jacob and Judah are more common and He uses them too! That’s great news for the rest of us, right!!??
The people of God are also surprising because of their lack of numbers!! When we consider what God had in mind when He sent Joseph into Egypt and that He promised to make Jacob a great nation in Egypt, it may be surprising to us to note that there were 70 of them!!
But God often demonstrates a preference for working through a small group rather than a large mass.
The Lord Jesus ran His program of world redemption with a handful of the most unlikely disciples chosen from a small, insignificant location, but through them, He changed and is changing - the world.
The Lord also seems to delight in using those who lack social acceptability. This was certainly the case with Jacob’s family.
Pharaoh warmly welcomed them to Egypt but not without some degree of reservation. Joseph was sensitive to this, so after his long-awaited and emotional reunion with his father, he warned them that they were an abomination to the Egyptians.
As Paul said, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1 Cor. 1:27-29).
When God sent His Son into the world, He sent Him to a stable as a baby. He has been doing surprisingly different things all along, using the most unlikely knuckleheads in the most remarkable ways.
But through it all, the discerning eye can see the wonderful workings of God and glorify Him accordingly.
May God bless you all.
Last Update: Mar 20, 2022 12:52 pm CDT
