One of the many interesting things I’ve discovered in my study of God’s promises in Genesis is the relatively small coverage given to some events in comparison to others. For example, the seven years Jacob worked for Rachel are covered in two verses in Genesis 29:20-21, while five chapters, Genesis 42-46, are devoted to Joseph’s brothers’ initial visit to Egypt to buy food and Jacob’s eventual moving with his seventy family members to Goshen. What do we make of this?
Here are some reasons I believe so much detail is given to the brothers’ trips to Egypt. First, it shows how God is keeping His promise by providentially saving Jacob’s lineage from destruction. Second, it confirms and clarifies the God-Dream Joseph had when he was seventeen. Third, it demonstrates the depth of Joseph’s desire to honor God through his actions, which brought about repentance and reconciliation with his brothers.
God keeps His Promises. Who is God? What is He like? These important questions are answered as we study the Bible and as God reveals Himself in our daily experience. The primary “character” in stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is God. What have we learned about what God is like from each of these stories? Not only have we learned that God loves us, but that He has initiated a plan to save us from self-destruction.
God’s plan comes with a promise, initiated with Adam and Eve and extended with the call of Abram, and the promise to him and his descendants that ” All the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 9o when God made the promise, and they were childless. God’s promise seemed laughable to Sarah, but God gave them a child. We saw that God keeps His promises! We have seen this kind of thing in all the stories we have covered until Joseph’s assumption of leadership in Egypt. God has a plan, and He keeps the promises He makes related to the plan.
God is faithful and trustworthy to all who put their trust in Him. Just as He did for Abraham and his great-grandson Joseph, He will keep all His promises to you. Your life and destiny are in the hands of God! Look at something Peter wrote about what that means.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” 2 Peter 1:3-5.
The faithful God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is your God. He kept His promises to them, and He will do the same for you!
Joseph’s “God-Dreams” Become Reality
Do you recall the “God-Dreams” Joseph had? Since both dreams pointed to the same future event, we will revisit only the first.
‘”Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ” Listen to this dream I had: we were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”‘ Genesis 37:5-7
At least thirteen years have passed since the seventeen-year-old Joseph had this dream. Joseph’s brothers may have dismissed the dream or forgotten about it, but I believe the dream persisted in Joseph as part of his destiny. Doubtless, there were times when he must have wondered if and how the dream would happen.
Can you imagine what Joseph might have been thinking as people from other countries were coming to him to buy food? ” What’s happening with the food supply back home?” “Will some of my brothers be coming to buy food from me?” What will that be like, and what will I do if they come?” “Will I recognize them?” and “How will I deal with them?”
Genesis 42:6-7 gives a first-hand account of what happens when Joseph’s brothers come before him.
“Now Joseph was governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So, when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them.”
It has taken over a decade for the promise God made to Joseph to become a reality, but God is fulfilling His promise. Remember, God often delays, but He never forgets His word to us. So, keep praying, trusting, and living in the hope that God gives you.