Reflection

Dear Christa—

From Genesis to Now: Reflection

So, Jacob—finally convinced that Joseph was still alive—gathers up the family to go to Egypt. When he reaches Beersheba and offers a sacrifice, God appears to him.

“’I am God, the God of your father’, he said.

‘Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt,

for I will make you into a great nation there.

I will go down to Egypt with you,

and I will surely bring you back again.

And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes’”

(Gen. 46:3-4).

Jacob did a lot of significant traveling in his life. None of it was prompted by good, but that’s when God always worked and reassured him. To Paddan Aram as a young man, away from Shechem in his midlife, and now to Egypt for one last trip—to see Joseph before he dies and to deposit his kin right where God wants them for the next 400 years.

In that time, just as promised, they’ll become a large nation. And, eventually once again—in the midst of hardship—they will take up Joseph’s bones and return to the Promised Land.

Is it not true that God works in the midst of our storms when we have no choice but to trust in Him?

—the parishioner who doesn’t do anything