God's In Charge of Your Future
Are you worried about where your life is headed?
Do you tend to freak out thinking the wrong people are in power over you?
Do you think someone may be hindering your purpose and destiny in Christ?
Stop.
It's just not true. You have to read the scriptures to understand no human hand can stop God's plan.
Jacob and his family of 66 are arrived in Egypt in Genesis 47. The 7 year famine is in year 7 and things are bleak. The nation is starving, the people are selling everything for grain - their fields, their homes, eventually even themselves. It's hard times for everyone.
On top of this, the chosen family is on foreign soil. They are strangers at a strange time in a strange land. You don't want to be someone's guest when they have nothing good going for them. You feel like more of an intruder than normal. Yet right in the middle of this horrendous period of Egypt's history, Jacob's family is possessing property, growing, multiplying and increasing!
Look with me as the passage first describes the last bit of struggle on the part of the Egyptians during the famine as they approach Joseph:
Genesis 47:25–27 (ESV) And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.
Then notice the next verse:
Genesis 47:27 (ESV) Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.
I like that little word in the beginning: "Thus." As if the writer is making sure to connect the previous episodes of struggle with the following description of success for God's family. He's saying, "IN THIS SETTING did Israel become fruitful and multiply."
He's saying nothing can stop God's call and promises in your life. God has promised Abraham His descendants would multiply in Egypt. Now, it looks like the exact WRONG time to be a burgeoning family in Egypt. There's no food, the people are starving. I bet they aren't too happy either. Hunger pains can make you grumpy. "Who are these strangers? And why are they here? That Joseph should send them packing!"
It doesn't happen. They become FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY in spite of the circumstances.
God's promises never fail.
I think more Christians need to get a hold of this. Perhaps we'd be much more happy and at peace in our lives if we laid our heads on the pillow at night and knew that no matter what the economy is doing, no matter what the powers that be seem to say, no matter who is angry all around us, God is for us and His Word to us is YES and AMEN! You can count on HIM!
Are you worried that someone else might be in the way of God's purpose in your life through Christ?
Stop.
Do you tend to freak out thinking the wrong people are in power over you?
Do you think someone may be hindering your purpose and destiny in Christ?
Stop.
It's just not true. You have to read the scriptures to understand no human hand can stop God's plan.
Jacob and his family of 66 are arrived in Egypt in Genesis 47. The 7 year famine is in year 7 and things are bleak. The nation is starving, the people are selling everything for grain - their fields, their homes, eventually even themselves. It's hard times for everyone.
On top of this, the chosen family is on foreign soil. They are strangers at a strange time in a strange land. You don't want to be someone's guest when they have nothing good going for them. You feel like more of an intruder than normal. Yet right in the middle of this horrendous period of Egypt's history, Jacob's family is possessing property, growing, multiplying and increasing!
Look with me as the passage first describes the last bit of struggle on the part of the Egyptians during the famine as they approach Joseph:
Genesis 47:25–27 (ESV) And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.
Then notice the next verse:
Genesis 47:27 (ESV) Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.
I like that little word in the beginning: "Thus." As if the writer is making sure to connect the previous episodes of struggle with the following description of success for God's family. He's saying, "IN THIS SETTING did Israel become fruitful and multiply."
He's saying nothing can stop God's call and promises in your life. God has promised Abraham His descendants would multiply in Egypt. Now, it looks like the exact WRONG time to be a burgeoning family in Egypt. There's no food, the people are starving. I bet they aren't too happy either. Hunger pains can make you grumpy. "Who are these strangers? And why are they here? That Joseph should send them packing!"
It doesn't happen. They become FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY in spite of the circumstances.
God's promises never fail.
I think more Christians need to get a hold of this. Perhaps we'd be much more happy and at peace in our lives if we laid our heads on the pillow at night and knew that no matter what the economy is doing, no matter what the powers that be seem to say, no matter who is angry all around us, God is for us and His Word to us is YES and AMEN! You can count on HIM!
Are you worried that someone else might be in the way of God's purpose in your life through Christ?
Stop.
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