Today’s verses bring me both comfort and conviction.
This segment of Genesis details how God brought Jacob and his family to the land of Egypt. It allows us to connect back to Genesis 15 when God told Jacob’s grandfather, Abram (Abraham), “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country.”
The current story brings me comfort because it is a demonstration of God’s character and His faithfulness. God cannot be any less than who He claims to be; He is immeasurably and unchangeably good and faithful. God does not break His promises.
In the same breath, I’m convicted by reading different accounts in the Bible because I know I, too often, expect God to work on my timeline and by my criteria. Abraham’s descendants spent hundreds of years of exile in Egypt. Moses pursued but never made it to the Promised Land. Paul, a major leader in the early Christian church, suffered. Why? Why the wait? Why the wandering? Why the pain?
No one knows except to say, our finite minds cannot begin to comprehend the complexity of God’s overall plan for humanity. Each of our lives is a single piece of the vast puzzle, a single strand in the web of stories. We simply cannot see it or comprehend it.
“For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12
Even when the world feels out of control, even when we feel abandoned, let us cling to God’s promise that “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Let us trust in His plan; God has proven Himself trustworthy throughout the ages.
