It is probably my favorite story in the Bible. I think because it is so honest about how we fail and how God is right in the middle of our failures and mistakes and how He loves us anyway.
It seems that lying was a family characteristic that continued from generation to generation beginning with Abraham.
Abraham said his wife, Sara was his sister because he was scared. (Lies.)
Jacob lied to his father, Isaac about who he was when Isaac was too old to know the difference and Jacob received the blessing that was intended for his brother, Esau, the first born son. (Lies.)
Later, Jacob's father-in-law tricked Jacob by giving him the wrong girl on his wedding night! Don't you wonder if Jacob thought back to what he had done to his brother all those years ago when that happened? (Deception and Lies.)
Joseph's brothers lied to their father, Jacob about what happened to his favorite son by telling their father Joseph had most likely been killed by a wild animal when they were the ones responsible for selling him to the Egyptians--out of jealousy. (More Lies.)
So, I was pondering over Jacob's pain of losing his precious son. Obviously, Jacob was in pain for many years because of what his sons told him and what he assumed had happened to Joseph.
His remaining sons brought Joseph's bloody garment to their dad - the beautiful coat Jacob had made for him and Jacob had no choice but to believe that his son, Joseph was dead. (Lies!)
Later, when a famine broke out and they were starving, Jacob sent all but one of his sons to Egypt to get food.
By then, Joseph had been promoted to second-in-charge over the land of Egypt and he recognized his brothers...you know the story.
They came home, ran out of food again and went back.
By then, Joseph was ready to reveal himself to them.
It was very emotional for all of them when Joseph revealed his identity to them. (Finally, the truth!)
They came home and told their father--"Joseph is alive". (The truth will set you free!)
(I wonder if they ever told their father the whole truth about what they had done to Joseph.)
But when Jacob heard that his precious son, Joseph was alive; he was so overwhelmed by it all--the Bible says, "And Jacob's heart began to stop beating and [he almost] fainted, for he did not believe them".
We are told that God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, "Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here am I".
“Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes.”
He heard God tell him to go.
Prior to that, for all those years, God had not spoken to Jacob about Joseph. He never knew that Joseph was alive by any revelation or word of knowledge from God.
God had been silent all those years.
And you know Jacob had to have been in so much emotional pain all those years because he thought his favorite son had died.
However, when it was important that he go to Egypt to preserve the whole nation of Israel, God spoke to him and let him know he needed to go and He told him that He would go with him.
And Israel was preserved as a nation.
I find it interesting that sometimes we don't hear from God about things that are really important to us or something we have been praying about that we feel we need an answer for.
However, God is sovereign and if we think about it, had Jacob heard from God that his son, Joseph was alive, he may have gone mad looking for him or who knows, found him and brought him home and then the nation of Israel would have become extinct because God had decided to use Joseph to be the instrument to preserve the nation of Israel. You just never know.
It was all part of God's plan.
My whole thought at this point is--wow
God spoke to Jacob and told him what to do when it was critical that he do so.
When we don't understand why we are suffering or in emotional pain or don't have the answer we need, there may be reasons why God doesn't reveal more to us.
In the end...
He does have a plan.
He won't abandon us and we can trust Him.
...and that is comforting to me, especially when things don't make sense.
KL
