Gen 50:22-25
So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph's knees. And Joseph said to his brethren, "I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."
Joseph knew that Israel’s destiny was not Egypt but the land of Canaan.
Why did he not just arrange for their return after the famine was over?
Moving is not as straightforward a matter as we would like it to be.
And the longer Israel remained, the more numerous they became and the more complicated the process.
But, I believe Joseph, having recognized the hand of God bringing him to Egypt in the first place, knew that any human effort to relocate would not work out right. It was YHWH who brought Israel to Egypt in the first place. And it has to be YHWH that takes them back.
Israel’s journey to Egypt was by YHWH’s miraculous intervention. Their return will be by another miraculous intervention. ‘God will surely VISIT you...’
Rom 8:28 ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.’
Wherever I am today in the stations of life, it is YHWH that allowed me to be here. And wherever it is that He is calling me to be, He will carry me by His miraculous power.
"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.” (Isa 46:3-4)
Heavenly Father, you are the ‘author and finisher of my faith’ (Heb.12:2). Help me like Joseph, to recognize Your hand in every stage of the journey of my life. Give me the grace to rest in Your plan and provision to carry me through on the wing of Your Spirit and not in my own strength. Amen.
