Listen Up.

“So, Jacob set out for Egypt” Genesis 46-47

Our lives seem at times to move at a snail’s pace and then at other times too quick to think. While writing this, I’m sitting on the deck of our beach house listening to the waves, hearing my family laugh at the pool and feeling the warm September breeze. There’s no humidity and it’s a perfect 77 degrees. Delightful. And my pace today is pretty great. That is not always the case. In fact, it is rarely the case these days. Life is moving fast, but it is “good.”

Jacob, as recorded in the book of Genesis, had a life much like our own, full of joys and pains and a lot of in the meanwhiles. Near the end of his life, he experienced another plot twist – he discovers that his son Joseph whom he thought was dead, is now a man and reigns second in command of all of Egypt! So, Jacob sets out for Egypt “with all that was his,” as well as all his children and their families.

 

It is on this journey to Egypt that God speaks to him saying, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

God promises to go with him, bring him back, and that his son will be with him when he dies.

The last time he had heard God speak, he was coming back home and desperately desiring to reunite with his brother Esau (Genesis 35). His “favorite” wife had just died giving birth to his youngest son and he was starting over. At that time, God reiterated the promise He had given to his grand-father Abraham and his dad Isaac, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” (Genesis 35)

And now, 30 years later, God speaks again. He reminds Jacob that He is still working out His promise in his life.

 

It is so sweet that Jacob, the soup maker, blessing stealer, sister marrier, hard worker, twelve-boy raiser, forgiveness seeker, Rachael loser, and “favorite” son griever, is reminded again that he is part of a bigger story and that he has not been forgotten…despite the silence.

Notice, Jacob “set out” for Egypt and THEN the Lord spoke. Sometimes we must move before we can hear God speak. We must choose to get out of our current situation or comfort zone and allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to exercise our own dependence on God. What’s crazy is, it actually takes as much faith to move sometimes as it does to just sit still and wait.

 

When we don’t hear God, it can be because we are being disobedient – nothing closes our ears quicker than to do our own thing despite what God is saying – or because we are faithfully doing the last thing He has already told us to do. Jacob was raising his family. He was doing what God had said to do, “be fruitful & increase in number.”

 

Life is a journey which includes many possibilities. Jacobs journey lasted 147 years. He said about those years, they “have been few and difficult” (Gen 47:9), and yet he kept following God’s instructions anyway!

 

It is so important to remember that God’s directives are enough. It would seem He enjoys giving us a rather large playground to play in. To truly follow Him, we must stay within the boundaries He has established for us. Many of those are clear in His Word, but most of them, are personal and fit directly into His unique purpose and plan for our lives. It is through listening to His Spirit and reading the Bible that those directives can be  determined. We don’t have to add to them, nor should can we ignore aspects that APPEAR insignificant or irrelevant.

 

I wonder how many times God really talked to Jacob. Was it just the handful of times mentioned in the Bible? How amazing that now, we can hear from God and interact with Him daily through His Spirit!

 

The instructions of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple…

bringing JOY to the heart…

giving insight for living. (Psalm 19:7-8)

 

Sometimes the things in our lives that we have left for dead or have assumed they would never come to be, get new life AS WE WALK in obedience to God. Nothing that God initiates ever dies; it might get redirected or redefined, but it never truly Dies. God is LIFE.

 

It may seem like He has forgotten you, staled out or changed the plan, but He does not change the plans He has spoken…”and it is good.”

 

From Jacob’s perspective, Joseph was gone. God knew better. He always does.

 

In the Meanwhile…

If you haven’t heard from God in a while, think back to the last thing He did tell you. He doesn’t seem to give us new instructions until we have followed through with what He has already said.

If you have yet to hear from Him at all, it is time to delve into the scriptures and pay attention to what He has already said. That’s never a bad place to start.

And if your circumstances are causing you to move, move. I love the sweet promise in the Bible that says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

Jacob SET OUT, and then God spoke.

Listen up.