God's plan was Egypt

God's plan was for his people to go to Egypt. This was not a vacation for them. This was not a fun adventure full of hope and blessing. This was a trip they probably would not have wanted to go, had they been able to see the future. If they were able to see the future they would see slavery and bondage. But God called Jacob in his old age, to get up and take his family and all his belongings and go to Egypt in search for food, his son Benjamin, and his long lost son Joseph.

(Genesis 46:3) "And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said,Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
3And 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:
4I 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. "

Jacob obeyed God's plan and took all he had in search for food, his sons, and whatever awaited him next. He probably would have rather that God provide for him in his old comfortable home of Canaan. It seems strange that God would want his people to gather in Egypt. Then we find that many years later during the book of Exodus that God's people are in slavery and bondage under the Egyptians. Potipher is long gone along with the mention of Joseph and the favor he had while in office. However, God knew that in order for the Israelites to take over the promised land they would need to grow in size. Egypt was the perfect place for them to grow into a huge nation able to fight off the other surrounding nations and be victorious in their conquest of the promised land later on in the great Exodus.

Rebekah- What the heck?

I am excited tonight because we are continuing in the exciting book of Genesis. I am attending a class with my husband on Thursday nights and I am really getting into the study. We have been reading through Genesis and this book is probably one of the most interesting books I have ever heard. What drama, what romance, it's definitely a good read. There are however, some things that are somewhat perplexing to me. In Genesis 24 we read about how Isaac's servant went to go find a wife for Isaac. He even put up a fleece for God to make sure he brought back the "right" wife. He decided he would look for a woman at the well to offer to water not only him but his 10 camels as well. I guess the well was a hang out spot where guys would look for wives. Now this woman would be impressive because a camel can drink a lot of water. So he found this woman who offered to water all of the camels and he brought her home to Isaac. Her name was Rebekah and the whole story was pretty romantic. But this woman Rebekah was very interesting. She made some pretty interesting decisions. First of all, she had twin sons and favored one son more than the other. I wonder why she favored one son more than the other? Maybe it was because God have her a prophetic word that she would have twins when she was pregnant and the younger one would rule over the older, and out her womb would be two nations. It is sad to think that a mother would favor one child over another. I wonder if her sons were aware of this fact, I hope not. The interesting thing is that she even tried to interfere in her husband Jacob's life. One day when her dying husband was about to give the blessing typically given to the eldest son, who in this case was Esau, she tried to change the plan. Maybe it was because she remembered the dream she had, she remembered the younger son was to rule over the oldest. She had the nerve to give her son Jacob the heads up, to go in and try to trick her own husband into giving him the blessing, instead of his older brother Esau. Amazingly enough, this plan actually worked and Jacob did get the blessing. I just don't get it. How could God bless that? Why would God bless and fulfill his covenant of love through the descendants of Jacob when it was supposed to be through the oldest son. He was the heir.

But then it hit me.

God's faithfulness to his promises does not depend on our obedience. He was faithful because He is love. Throughout the Bible you read about all of these characters who were big sinners. But yet God still worked through them, he still fulfilled the covenant through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Isn't that cool? God even sent his son Jesus to be born and he even had murderers and a prostitute in his lineage. God knew that we could never be perfect people but He still chose to die for us and accomplish his plan through our lives. That is true love if I have ever seen it.