Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jan 18th A Change of Plans

Today’s Passage – Genesis 45 – 47 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Mark 7 – 8; Proverbs 18; Psalms 86 – 90)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – James 4:10

Read the “0118 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous posts from this passage – “Just Let It Go,” “Reconciliation,” and “The Big Picture”

“1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Genesis 26:1-5)

“2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. 3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.” (Genesis 46:2-4)

In the Bible, most of the time Egypt is not considered a good place to go for God’s people. Some have said that Egypt pictures or typifies the world. Abram went down into Egypt with Sarai and Lot right after God had showed them the spot within the land of Canaan that He was going to bless him:

“7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. … 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.” (Genesis 12:7, 10)

In Egypt, a couple of bad things happened to Abram and his family. It was there that he lied to Pharaoh about his wife, saying she was his sister. In Egypt they likely also picked up the Egyptian handmaid for Sarai, named Hagar, who later would have relations with Abram that would produce Ishmael. This plan was an attempt to make the will of God happen, but they were just getting ahead of God instead of waiting for God to do it. Egypt is also the place that Lot developed a taste for the big city, After returning to Canaan, Lot became dissatisfied with boring old uncle Abram, and wanted to move out on his own and pitched his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:10).

Much later on in the Scriptures, after the invasion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, the remnant that were left in what was left of the city of Jerusalem went against Jeremiah’s advice and left for Egypt because they thought life would be better for them there. However, Jeremiah told them that the bad things that they feared in Jerusalem would find them in Egypt, and even though Jerusalem was a ruined and dangerous place, it would be safe for them because it was the place of God’s will (Jeremiah 42).

However, there are a couple of place where God made exceptions about Egypt. Here in our text, God assured Jacob that it was His will for Jacob to move his family into Egypt. Also, in the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were directed by the Angel of the Lord to go down into Egypt to protect the Lord Jesus from Herod (Matthew 2:13).

My point is this, if you are thinking about doing something that may be questionable, please make sure that have clear direction from the Lord, as Jacob and Joseph did. The will of God is discernible today through the Word of God, prayer, and godly counsel. However, every once in a while God will call you to do something that may not be in complete agreement with some of the counselors in your life. However, before you pull the trigger on a decision like that, be 100% positive that God wants you to do it. The counselors in Jacob’s life may have thought that it was dangerous to go into Egypt, and usually they would be right. But, in this particular case, it was the will of God.