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.
• When Jacob returned to this land some 20 years later, the Lord said it again
• Gen 35:11-13 “And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
All three generations have now heard God’s promise. His plan has not changed. His promise remains intact. Nothing has changed with God.
• There have been many twists and turns, many changes to the circumstances surrounding them, but what God has said still holds true – Israel will become a great nation, the world will be blessed through them (because of Jesus), and they will inherit the land God gives them.
• God is determined to bless Israel because He is determined to bless the world, through Jesus Christ, descendant of Abraham.
God is faithful and true. God has a plan. His plan is His promise. It does not change with changing circumstances. It does not change over generations.
• Nothing can derail His plan. No one can thwart His purpose.
• Even though the situations have been changing drastically. Over the three generations, we see family conflicts, betrayal, cheating, infertility, sibling rivalry and famines that cause relocations again and again.
• Yet God’s plan is still on track. He is going to bless Israel, makes them a great nation, and get them to occupy the Promised Land, which they did in 1400.
Fast forward 800 years and we see them being driven out of this land by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
• It came as a discipline from God because of their stubborn disobedience. It was God’s most severe discipline for their idolatry, apostasy and rejection of God.
• And yet God did not give up on His plan. He said through prophet Jeremiah - Jer 29:10-14 “This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
You can never run away from God’s promises. Nothing can derail God’s plan and no one can thwart His purpose. Unless we choose to reject Him.
God is faithful and true. James writes, God does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).
• With the earth rotating constantly and orbiting around the sun at the same time, a shadow can never be constant. But God is.
• His promises are true and will always be true. Don’t prejudge God by what we see.
• What should we do in the midst of changing circumstances? Heb 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
We are like ants crawling across a very beautiful painting. We crawl across the dark brown and think all of life is dark brown. Then we hit green and think, ‘”Oh, this is better. Now it’s all green.” But soon comes the dark blue and then a splash of yellow, a streak of red, and then another patch of brown.
On and on we go, from one colour to another, that’s all we see, never realizing that God is actually painting a masterpiece in our lives using all the colours of the palette.
One day when we step up to where He is, we will see that every colour has its place, has a reason, and nothing is out of place.
Time is the canvas on which God does His painting, and eternity is the perspective from which we will see the beauty of His plan.
• We cannot tell it now, just like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. But we will surely see it one day. Hold fast to the hope we have.
God’s plan is interwoven in the fabrics of our troubles and challenges, not apart from them.
• God works through the famines. God works through the betrayal and mistreatment. God works through our trials and troubles.
• We trust that God has reasons we cannot see. We trust Him even when we do not understand.
There is a big difference between, “God’s promise is not true” and “I don’t understand it”. “I don’t understand it” and “His Word is not true” is a world of difference.
• We believe His promise because it comes from someone who is eternally true. God cannot change.
Pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission to reach the thousands of Chinese people who had never heard the gospel. During the terrible days of the Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901), when missionaries were being captured and killed, he went through such an agonising time that he could not pray.
Writing in his journal, he summarized his spiritual condition this way: “I can’t read. I can’t think. I can’t pray. But I can trust.”
There will be times when we can’t read the Bible, we cannot focus our thoughts on God, and we struggle to even pray. In those moments when we cannot do any of these, we can still decide to TRUST the loving purposes of God.
Look at what OMF has done today. Look at China today.
God has a plan that is much BIGGER than what we can see.
• If we focus on our current troubles, we are likely to be discouraged and confused. We can end up doubting God and be tempted to turn away from Him.
• Many people have done exactly that. They looked at their own suffering and the pain they saw around them, and decided to give up their faith.
• This is too premature. They have yet to see the real thing, the real deal that God has for us, and they have already given up.
• Hang in there. He is coming through! We can choose to trust Him.
God has a wonderful plan for your life. His plan does not change with changing circumstances. His plan is for all ages.
• Ultimately Jesus Christ will come through Israel and the world will be blessed through Him. We are today.
