God Speaks to Jacob (Gen. 46:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-31-2008

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  God’s Promise

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 46:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  2 God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here I am."  3 He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.  4 “I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.’”

 

            There are a couple of landmarks spoken of in this section that is note worthy.  Beersheba is seen 31 times in the Bible and is the southern most boundary of Israel.  There were a number of things that happened there as described in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Genesis that I will not go into at this time.  The second landmark or country in this case is Egypt, for Egypt has a lot of significance in Scripture and most of it was not good for the nation of Israel.  Jesus, when He was a baby was taken to Egypt to get away from king Herod who sought to take His life, Abraham went down to Egypt and came back with Hagar and that caused him a world of trouble, now God tells Jacob that it would be okay for he and his family to go down to Egypt, and for him not to fear about going down there for this was what God wanted him to do.

 

            God spoke to Jacob in “visions of the night” and this was after he had built an altar to God at Beersheba.  God calls his name twice in the vision just like other times in the Scripture when God calls a persons name twice.  He called Samuel’s name twice, along with Abraham, Martha, and Saul.  I am glade that God knows my name as He knows everyone’s name who ever lived or will live. 

 

            I am sure that there was a bit of fear in Jacob concerning his trip to Egypt, yet after God spoke to him that fear must have all left him knowing that his Creator had spoken to him and that he was doing exactly what He want him to do.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see something in this section that Jacob did that was a good pattern to follow, and that is that he called on the name of the Lord as he was about to make a big change in his life, and I am sure that he was calling out for direction and God gave him that direction.  This is a good pattern to follow.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to cry out to the Lord for direction as Sandy and I go through this difficult time in our lives.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 1:9-11

 

9. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10. so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11. having been fill with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.