God's Providence...

A message on the Providence of God seems more fitting for a new years message. Truth be told this message could be fitting most any Sunday or most any day… YOU AND I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TOMORROW HOLDS… BUT GOD!!!

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Providence)

PROVIDENCE: divine guidance or care... God conceived as the power sustaining and guiding human destiny

PROVIDENT: making provision for the future… marked by foresight

With the many uncertainties that each day holds, and the year that lies ahead of us I am certain this is a message that will encourage your heart… Genesis 46:31-47:12

Genesis 46:31–47:12 NASB95

Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ “When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.” Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence. So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.

Despised for Destiny!

Few would consider being despised as being something good or even something that good could come from.

Joseph advises his family to state they are keepers of livestock… shepherds

There is no deceit here but foreseen wisdom

They would be placed apart from the people of Egypt they were isolated from the other Egyptians

They would be on fertile land (multiple times it is stated as the BEST!)

They would not assimilate with the Egyptians but remain separate

They would feel… ISOLATED, OUTCAST, ALONE,

REMEMBER...

God will make them a nation in Egypt… Genesis 46:3

Genesis 46:3 NASB95

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.

God would bless those who bless His people… Genesis 12:2-3

Genesis 12:2–3 NASB95

And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Pharaoh wanted them to care for his livestock as well… SEEING God’s hand!!!

Jacob (Israel) blesses Pharaoh… God was in this even if Jacob did not see it

Life had been hard… but God is working not just for the here and now

God was setting in motion His plans for His people

God knew they would go to Egypt and how long they would be there… Genesis 15:13-16

Genesis 15:13–16 NASB95

God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

There would be less temptation there to combine with the Egyptians because they were despised

God even new that they would come out 400 years later (even though slaves, rich in wealth and people)

They enter 70 people (large family)

They leave a nation… growing towards the number promised in Genesis 13:16

Genesis 13:16 NASB95

“I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.

In verses 13-26 of chapter 47 we see Joseph manage the people and food wisely. God uses him to sustain not only the lives of Israel but others as well…

Genesis 47:27 is clear that God uses this to begin to bless Israel.

Genesis 47:27 NASB95

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.

SO WHAT!?

So God takes 70 people, they multiply, become a nation, so what! History lesson 101 right??? OR IS THERE MORE… This is more than some neat bible story wrapped in amazing endings with twist and turns that put us in awe…

Perhaps no other group of people has endured as much persecution as have the people of Israel. Among other tragedies, the people of Israel have survived 400 years of slavery in Egypt, and the near-total destruction of their homeland by the Assyrians and Babylonians, as well as the devastations caused later by the Romans.

The first Jewish Roman war would be 66-73 AD Jerusalem being destroyed in 70 AD

The second Jewish Roman war would occur from 115-117 AD resulting in wide scale slaughter and displacement and slavery

The third Jewish Roman war from 132-136 AD Hadrian exiled all Jews from the region and prohibited their return upon pain of death!

From this point forward Israel ceased to exist until May 14, 1948 when the end of the British mandate would occur and by the next year they were recognized by the United Nations

On May 15, 1948… Israel was invaded by five Arab states

But Israel is still there today through the Providential Power of God!

SO WHAT… more history? NOOOOO!!! God is a providential God… ONE who holds tomorrow and provides for tomorrow!

He is true to His Word:

Genesis 15:5 NASB95

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Isaiah 49:13–16 NASB95

Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

Leviticus 26:44–45 NASB95

‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. ‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”

It is nothing short of a miracle that 70 people enter a land, uncertain about tomorrow, outcast… YET they leave a nation!

It is nothing short of a miracle that Israel hated by so much of the world continues to exist even today after almost 2000 years!

WHY?! Because God Promised… His Word is TRUE!

We along with the writer of Hebrews 13:5-6 ... “for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?””