God Has A Plan

GOD HAS A PLAN AND YOU ARE IN IT

The famine will last for another five years. Jacob and his family need to move out of the land of Canaan and into Egypt.

• God has placed Joseph in Egypt for a time like this. Joseph said, “God sent me here ahead of you.” That was God’s plan.

• He assures Jacob: “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…” (46:3-4a)

Jacob needed such an assurance. Egypt is not God’s Promised Land. God knows. This is just a temporary measure.

• God says, “I will surely bring you back again.” (46:4) God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has not changed. The land of Canaan will be where they belong. God will bring them back.

GOD HAS A PLAN. Nothing is haphazard with God. We see that throughout the book of Genesis.

• His plan started with the promise He gave Abraham in Genesis 12.

• Gen 12:1-3 “The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” You are in this plan.

• It is a unilateral promise. God promises to bless Abraham, to give him a land and build him a nation. Abraham is free to doubt Him and remain where he is. He is under no obligation whatsoever to buy it, but Abraham believed God.

It is the promise of land, the promise of descendants (a great nation), and the promise of blessings (they will be blessed, to be a blessing to the world)

• Gen 12:7 – The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

• Gen 15 – God made a covenant and assured him in a vision: "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

• Abraham instructed his servant in Gen 24 to find a wife for Isaac and bring her back to the Promised Land. In the next chapter, Abraham died.

God spoke to his son Isaac next, in Gen 26.

• Gen 26:2 “The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.”

God’s promise did not end with the passing of Abraham. God repeated the same promise to Isaac.

• His family, flocks, herds and servants grew in size and he needs to move from Gerar to Beersheba in end-Gen 26, God reassured him again (26:23-24): “From there he went up to Beersheba. 24That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob, and we read how Jacob seized the father’s blessings. When he was fleeing from his home, the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

• Gen 28:13-15 “There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

The Lord introduces Himself as the God of Abraham (grandfather) and Isaac (father), and now Jacob’s God. He repeated the same promise.