RPG Adults
A HAVEN FROM FAMINE
SATURDAY, MARCH 15
Genesis 46-47
Psalm 38:1-11
In everything,
small or big, be faithful.
A HAVEN FROM FAMINE
Would you normally expect God’s people to find life-giving support from a nation of superstitious idol worshippers? Believers being provided for by unbelievers? Yet, this was what happened when Jacob and his household emigrated to Egypt to escape the grievous famine in Canaan. Egypt, the land of pyramids, was an amazing ancient civilisation with arts and crafts, science and technology, ahead of the times. Even to this day, the engineering and architectural skills involved in the building of the pyramids remain a total mystery.
In God’s sight, however, Egypt was merely an instrument for the fulfilment of His eternal purpose. As the Psalmist put it, the Lord “is the governor among the nations” (Ps 22:28). Egypt’s first major role in the Bible was to provide a haven from famine for God’s people: first for Abraham (Gen 12:10), and later for Jacob and his family. For this purpose, God had sent one man, even Joseph, to go before the brethren, to preserve life.
God Almighty had so ordered events that Jacob, against his natural inclination, was moved to leave the Land of Promise for a season, to sojourn in this foreign land. Egypt suddenly became the cradle of the nation Israel, which multiplied in 430 years from seventy souls to over two million. Kept in relative isolation, preserved by their deliverer Joseph in the initial stages, and watched over by God Himself, the Israelites became a multitude. In the process, Egypt became the setting for the greatest rescue operation of all time – the Exodus!
Except for God, the haven had become a prison of no escape! And God’s might was revealed as He delivered His people from this prison.
Are you in some kind of “prison of no escape”? Look to the Lord for deliverance. There is nothing too difficult for Him. Only make right with God. Live in obedience to His Word. Then He will bless you. He is able. He is the Almighty God!
THOUGHT: (Read Isaiah 40:17.)
PRAYER: May I see Thee, Father, in every situation of my life.