Grace

Into Egypt : Part 1 : Egypt Series

        "1 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
        2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied.
        3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
        4  I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”" ~ Exodus 46:1-4 NIV

        When I first received this word from Holy, i did not understand it and i had no idea why He'd give it to me. It seemed so misplaced  and to me it did not make sense but thank God for His Holy Spirit for He teaches, reveals and makes known to us the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.).

         Hurray!¡ for the Holy Spirit because He helped me understand this in a perspective i have never thought of.

      So as the scripture states, Jacob Isaac's son who God renamed Israel sets out of his homeland with everything and with everyone that was his to go to Egypt to meet his long lost son Joseph. It is quite a tale from where his journey started but we won't be talking about it today. (Reference: Genesis 27 through to Genesis 50)
    Our focus today is on Jacob going into Egypt. So along the way, Jacob and his caravan stop for the night  and in a vision God calls to him. I love verse 3, God tells Jacob that He is the God of his father and that he should not be afraid to go into Egypt for He (God) will make Jacob a great nation there. God goes on in verse 4 and assures Jacob that He will go with him into Egypt and He will certainly bring him back from Egypt to his homeland, Canaan.

      Well, ain't that something!  Imagine this, you are well settled in your land and then God tells you to go into a foreign land. He does that a lot, He did it to Abraham our grand father (Genesis 12:1). God always requires us to leave what we know and head on to what we do not know. Not because He can't meet us where we are. On the contrary He can and will meet us anywhere but sometimes when God is growing something, He needs Goshen, a fertile land that may not be available in our homeland. So He sends us into Egypt, to Goshen (Goshen is the land that Jacob and his descendants occupied while in Egypt. It was the most fertile land in all of Egypt (Genesis 47:1-11).).

      Egypt is a trial place, its new and unknown to us. It can be anything from a place of lack, a place of loss, a place of uncertainty, a place of disease, a place of strife, a place of poverty, a place of addiction, a place of death, a place of suffering, a place of loneliness, a place of hunger, a place of anger, a place of slaving away for others, a place of darkness, a place of rejection, a place of unemployment, a place of anything negative you can think of. It is just not a place any of us want to go into. And here comes our Father in Heaven asking us to go into that place, into Egypt.

    

      No one wants to leave Canaan and go into Egypt. Nobody wants to leave their comfort zone and head into an uncertain zone, i for one do not fancy such an idea. And yet, here we are. God asks us as He asked Abraham and Jacob before us to go into Egypt, to go into that foreign place.

     
    "3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there." ~ Genesis 46:3 NIV

    When God asks you to go into Egypt, He also tells you not to fear, His very own words, '“Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,'.  He does not stop there, He tells you why you should not fear, 'for I will make you into a great nation there.'.  In His own words and voice, God tells you not to be afraid to go into Egypt because He will grow you from there. He will fulfill His plan for your life while in Egypt, He will heal those wounds, while in Egypt, He will provide for you while in Egypt, He will make His glory shine upon you while in Egypt. Sometimes God's plan to grow us requires  Goshen, a fertile land that is foreign and unknown to us.

     "4  I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” ~ Genesis 46:4 NIV

      God doesn't just tell you not to be afraid, but He Himself will go with you into Egypt and when all is done and His plan is fulfilled, He will bring you out of Egypt back into Canaan. So if you are going into Egypt, when that negativity seems like it will swallow you whole, know this. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God that calls you by name will go with you into Egypt. He will go ahead of you and prepare Goshen, He will put Pharaoh under His control. He will favour you, He will prosper you, He will grow you, He will multiply you, He will guide you and He will bless you as you battle life out in Egypt until His time to lead you back home comes.

      'And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.'. We all have a missing Joseph, just as Jacob was longing to see his long lost son Joseph once more. I do not know who or what your missing Joseph is but i know once in Egypt, you will find him or it. It is God's promise. Be it healing, providence, peace, love, marriage, relief, children, a wife, a husband, increase, God's face, whatever you are missing, God will give it to you in Egypt.

      Egypt has called, Go into it with boldness because God Almighty goes before you and with you. He who has your name written on the palms of His hands will most certainly go with you, protect you and grow you. He who started the journey shall surely see it through to the end. You only need to trust Him and obey His instructions.

        

                       Step Into Egypt