A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Today on a daily walk from Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: God can do what he wants the way that he wants. We say well God this is how you're supposed to do it. This is how you've seen you do it in other people's lives. Sorry. God put your hand back on it. Nope. This is the way it's going to go down and we we struggle with that. I want you to do it this way. No, if I do it that way you get the glory. So we're going to do it this way. It's opposite day in your walk with the Lord. It doesn't make sense to me.

Why would you do that? I don't understand why you would do that. It doesn't have to make sense to me. He's God.

Guest (Male): We're pleased to bring you a daily walk with Pastor John Randall. Maybe you've noticed what we believe determines how we behave and both determine what we become. You know that's why it's so critical to have right beliefs that are in accordance with God's word and his plan for your life. This is illustrated in the family of Jacob. In today's study we are approaching the end of Jacob's life and so he will call his sons to pronounce a blessing upon them and prophesy of things to come. We begin today's teaching in Genesis chapter 47.

John Randall: We let's open our Bibles now to Genesis chapter 47 this evening. Genesis chapter 47. We're going to be picking up in the 13th verse this evening. Genesis chapter 47 and we are almost through this book of Genesis now in the 47th chapter. And you may recall that at the beginning of chapter 47 Joseph's family had made a successful pilgrimage down to Egypt and when they arrive Joseph wisely instructed his brothers to inform the Pharaoh that they were shepherds and by doing so they would be granted asylum just outside of Egypt in an area called Goshen, which ended up being the best portion of the languishing land of Egypt during the famine.

In addition to having the best part of the land it also served as a purpose of keeping the descendants of Jacob separate from the Egyptian culture, which was very pagan and potentially could really swallow up. If they intermarried they would lose their heritage, lose their tribes and so the Lord had them placed just outside of Egypt in order that they would be able to continue to grow and by the way a generation that would eventually lead to the Messiah. And now that Joseph and his family are situated in Goshen he was diligent to care for the adopted country of Egypt.

That was his adopted country through the severity of a seven year famine. And it's fascinating really to observe the wisdom, the discernment to which Joseph was given by God to lead the nation through this crisis and you can clearly see various characteristics that rise to the surface from Joseph's life, endurance, perseverance, compassion, integrity, accountability. Maybe tonight you're facing a potential crisis or you need wisdom. How do I navigate through this storm in my life? What do I do? How do I get through this? Joseph was given wisdom by God and the same God wants to provide wisdom if you need it tonight.

And so we come now to verse 13 beginning in verse 13 and it says this. Now there was no bread in all the land for the famine was severe so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they brought and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said give us bread for why should we die in your presence for the money has failed?

Then Joseph said give your livestock and I will give you bread for your livestock if the money is gone. So they brought their livestock to Joseph and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds and for the donkeys and thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. And when that year had ended they came to him the next year and they said we will not hide from my Lord. Our money is gone. My Lord has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and our lands.

Why should we die before your eyes both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die that the land may not be desolate. Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh for every man of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's and as for the people he moved them into the cities from one end of the borders of the Egypt to the other.

Only the land of the priest did not buy for the priest had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh and they ate those rations which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their lands. Then Joseph said to the people indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you and you shall sow the land and it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh. four fifths shall be your own as a seed for the for the field and for your food, for those of your household and as for food for your little ones.

Well there you have it. Here is the severity of the famine laid out. It was so severe. The words are very descriptive. It says there was no bread, the land languished, things were as bad as they could possibly be and the only the only hope for survival was Joseph. That was the only hope. You would not survive if you did not go to Joseph. He was he was a savior for the people, for the known world at that time. He was the only way out. He wasn't one of many options. He was the singular only option whereby you could actually be saved.

You had to come to Joseph if you were to survive. And so what Joseph did wisely in the midst of this storm, first of all he gathered all the financial resources. With the money they possessed the people were able to buy what they needed in order to survive and Joseph provided for them. But when the money ran out they had to use a different form of payment. So they brought their livestock. Joseph traded livestock so that they could be fed. But then Joseph gathered eventually the livestock ran out and so then he bought up all the land for Pharaoh and and he gave all the land in exchange.

They gave the land in exchange for their survival and then they were eventually given seed and they were to give one fifth of whatever they produced as tax back to Pharaoh and they would keep the remainder for themselves. Now there's a couple of observations that you can make from this. First of all the people would have perished. They would have died without Joseph. There was nowhere else to turn. They had become desperate. All of the resources that perhaps they had trusted in or looked to had now been used up. All that they could do was offer themselves to Joseph.

Everything else that they had trusted in, their livestock gone. Money failed, ran out. Their land, they couldn't hold on to it. They were desperate. They needed a savior. Everything was gone. You know it's amazing how many times people will lean on their resources and as long as there's resources enough they won't come to Jesus. My bank account's good. My health is good. Stock market good. At least the ones I've invested in. You know whatever it is you you're holding on to it and this is your security until it's gone. And then what are you leaning on?

What's going to hold you up? Had a conversation recently with someone and they were talking about another person and who is unsaved and how nice they were. I mean if you could get to heaven by being nice this person could get in. You can't get to heaven by being nice by the way, but they would get in. You're sure of it. They are nice, really nice. They say there's not a bad bone in their body, so they say. And they were wondering what do I do? I pray for them. I pray for them and they're not coming around.

This is what I said they will have a day. They will have a day. There will be a moment when everything they're trusting in is going to be tested and they're going to come to that moment when they're going to have to make a decision. Maybe everything's good right now but they will have a day. There will be a crisis. You can't avoid it. You can't escape it and nobody's bring bring a crisis on me so so that you know I can No, listen but you pray whatever it takes to get them to the end of themselves.

God do it. I'd rather have them get to the end of themselves and be sure that they're in heaven than than never come to that place. And so what are you trusting in? What are you leaning on? You think this is going to hold you up? Listen there's only certain things that last forever. That's the word of God and the souls of men. This is important. What are you what are you leaning on? Listen Jesus is the answer. He's the only answer. Joseph was the only option. And so what did they do eventually? They offered themselves.

They said here we are. We offer you ourselves. There were things that the people had to Interesting observation. Things that they had to let go of in order to find life. There were things that they could hold on to and die or things that they could willingly offer and have life. Well that's another observation. What are you holding on to? What are you grasping on to that is holding you back from life? In fact what you're holding on to it's not really helping you. It's not producing what you hoped it would and if you don't release it, if you don't walk from it it will have devastating effects on your future.

You have to make that decision. But through this whole thing as they were offering these things you think well the people could have been upset with Joseph. Look what he did. Look what he took from us. Look at verse 25 and look at the gratitude of the people. They said you have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight of my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made a law over the land of Egypt to this day that Pharaoh should add one fifth except for the land of the priest only, which did not become Pharaoh's.

The people did not feel slighted by Joseph. They were grateful. You saved my life. Sure the herds are gone. This is gone but I'm alive and I am grateful. Do you know anything about that in your walk with Jesus Christ? Anything that you were so connected to and hooked on to and you realized it was destroying your life and for some reason the Lord took it and yet that's the very thing that brought you to Jesus and you're not feeling bad about it. No, you can have it. You can have it. I have found life in Jesus.

There's nothing like Jesus. You saved my life. I will serve you for the rest of my days. I have found that Jesus is truly my only hope, my only way of survival. This world is languishing because of sin and it's getting darker every day and it it you can just see it around you and the only one who will bring us through is the savior. He is the greater than Joseph. He is Jesus and when I realized that Jesus saved me from a hopeless fate I am filled with gratitude and my life I'm going to serve the Lord.

Like this this is how I'm living. I'm serving Jesus. I don't care what the rest of the world is doing. I don't care if they don't agree. I'm My life has been saved. So I'm not ashamed of that and I'm going to live for Jesus with everything that I am. I owe my life to him. I owe everything to Jesus. All to Jesus I surrender. And you can tell when someone knows that they've been saved by Jesus because the the natural response of being saved by Jesus is I'm going to serve Jesus. That's that's just that's the proper response.

Somebody who knows they've been saved man they just live to serve the Lord. And that was the case with these people. They've been saved by Joseph and they were committed to serving. Well Joseph now we come to the final bend in the road guys of the book of Genesis and Jacob his father is now preparing to pass away and he's determined to make sure that his house, his heritage, even his burial arrangements are in order before he dies. And so he speaks with Joseph about his funeral plans in verse 27. So Israel that is Jacob, another name for Jacob, dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen and they had possessions there and they grew and they multiplied exceedingly.

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years. So the length of Jacob life was 147 years. Now when the time drew near that Israel must die he called his son Joseph and said to him if I found favor in your sight please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt but let me lie with my fathers. You shall carry me out of Egypt, bury me in their burial place. And he said I will do as you have said. Then he said swear to me and he swore to him.

So Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed. 17 years Jacob spent with Joseph when he was a young man before he was taken and sold into slavery. And now an additional 17 years he had spent with Joseph discovering that he was alive and he would live to be 147 years of age. And because Reuben who was the first born son of Jacob through Leah had been rejected because of his sin as the first born, Joseph being called upon in this way he's basically being given the responsibilities of the first born son. These are things that you need to do.

These are decisions that I I need you to make as we go forward as my life is about to end. Jacob knew that his days were numbered. He had entered into the last lap of his life. Last lap he is rounding the corners like you can see the finish line. There is way more behind you than in front of you. That where he was and he was mindful of that. The Bible says teach us to number our days and he had. And so he made a covenant with Joseph to have himself buried in the promised land next to Abraham and next to Isaac.

He did not want to be buried in Egypt. Jacob wanted to be buried next to the other patriarchs. This was a testimony of his faith and belief that his descendants would eventually inherit that promised land just like God had said to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. He said bury me next to them. And Joseph made a vow to bury his father not in Egypt but to bury him in Canaan in the promised land. And to secure this vow he put his hand under his thigh. I don't know anything about that but that was a handshake but it was like hey okay it's we're doing it.

You know that was serious. We're that's going to happen. So that's how they made agreements back in those days. Chapter 48. Jacob is now near his death and before he dies he's going to adopt his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim. Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told indeed your father is sick and he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. And Jacob was told look your son Joseph is coming to you. And Israel strengthened himself, sat up on his bed and Jacob said to Joseph God almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to him behold I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will make of you a multitude of people and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.

And now your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt they're mine. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine. Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours. They will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. But as for me when I came from Padan Aram Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath.

That is Bethlehem. Jacob now at the end of his life he's reflecting on the faithfulness of God and he goes back to the very beginning to when the Lord first met him. I think that is significant. To me it reminds me that your entire life there's something that's carried you. Your relationship with God, the God that met you all the way back then has carried you these all these years and you still remember that moment when the Lord met you and it's still sustaining you even after this time. That that's what's going to carry you through your life, your relationship with God, the God that met you, the God that saved you.

That's what brought you through all of the pain, all of the hardship to this moment and and as the Lord was with you then he's going to be with you now right up until the end and then into glory. And so he's reflecting on the God that appeared to me, the God that blessed me, the God that spoke to me, the God that made a covenant with me, that God. He says listen I'm going to bless your sons. In fact I'm going to have your sons be a part of our family. I'm going to in a sense adopt them.

Jacob informs Joseph that his two sons are going to be part now of the nation of Israel. Ephraim and Manasseh would really in a sense kind of replace Simeon and Levi in their inheritance of the land. And there is basically something that they were because of their connection to Joseph they would now be blessed and be included within the tribes of Israel and given a portion of the land of Canaan in the future. Now as these two boys they're actually not boys. They're probably grown men at this point and they're standing in front of their grandfather.

It says here in verse eight then Israel saw Joseph's sons and he said who are these? Probably not able to see as well as he once did and as they came in he said you know who are these boys, these men? And Joseph said to his father they are my sons whom God has given me in this place. And he said please bring them to me and I will bless them. Now verse 10 the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he couldn't see. And Joseph brought them near and he kissed them and embraced them.

And Israel said to Joseph I had not thought to see your face but in fact God has also shown me your offspring. I mean what a moment this was. This is a sweet tender moment. Jacob thought I'd never I thought you were gone forever and now God has allowed me to see your children. I I just I'm in awe of the gratitude even at the end. And Joseph brought them from beside his knees and he bowed down with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand.

And he brought them near. Basically he's putting the older one in front of the right hand and then the younger in front of the left setting them up for the blessing. Usually the older would get the bigger blessing than the younger. Uh but something happened. Verse 14 then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head who was the younger and his left hand on Manasseh's head guiding his hands knowingly for Manasseh was the first born and he blessed he he he reversed his hands. But it says God before whom my father Abraham, Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel that redeemed me from all evil bless the lads.

Let my name be named upon them and let the name of the fathers Abraham and Isaac, let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. So he's he's he's blessing. He's already started it. His hands are reversed. Oh and Joseph realizes that's the wrong kid. You're giving the wrong to Dad, what are you doing? But notice when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim and it displeased him and he took hold of his father's hand and removed it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head and Joseph said to his father not so my father.

This is this is the first born. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and he said I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he. And his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day and by you Israel will bless saying may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. That was God plan. Culturally it was to be different. However God had already informed Jacob of the future of these boys, of these men and the tribes that would come from them.

Under normal circumstances things would have been reversed but this wasn't normal circumstances. In fact if you read through the book of Genesis this is the fifth time that we have seen this occur. In other words God chose Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, Ephraim over Manasseh, later on David over his brothers. I I point this out to say God does what he wants. God can do what he wants the way that he wants. We say well God this is how you're supposed to do it. This is how you know I 've seen you do it in other people's lives.

Sorry. God put your hand back on it. Nope. This is the way it's going to go down and we we struggle with that. I want you to do it this way. No, if I do it that way you'd get the glory. So we're going to do it this way. It's opposite day in your walk with the Lord. It doesn't make sense to me. Why would you do that? I don't understand why you would do that. It doesn't have to make sense to me. He's God. And I'm learning that Lord if you want to do it differently than it's always been done then do that.

If you want to do it differently that's been done in the past okay. Show me what you want me to do.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor John Randall on a daily walk. We just listened into his message called Reunited, part of our series in Genesis. You can hear this program again when you visit a dailywalk.org, oneplace.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Pastor John's teachings are also accessible through our app as well. Search for Calvary South OC in the App Store or Google Play. Pastor John's wife Michelle has an excellent book titled The Great Exchange. In this recently revised third edition Michelle writes The Great Exchange is not a story of achievement. It's a story of surrender. For much of my life I believed strength meant holding on tighter, striving harder, proving my worth.

But the deeper truth I discovered is this. Real freedom begins when we finally let go. Waving the white flag was not defeat. It was the moment that everything changed. Read all about it in The Great Exchange by Michelle Randall available today for the cost of just $10 at a dailywalk.org. That's a dailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. And thank you for helping us get the word out on stations like this one all across the country. You know people today desperately need the hope and encouragement that God's word provides and your support helps to make that possible.

To donate to the ministry please go to a dailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. I also want to briefly mention Pastor John's video devo released Monday through Friday in the morning. It takes just eight minutes to watch but it will help you get your day off to a great start. Simply text the word a dailywalk to 877-242-0828 to start receiving them by text each day and be encouraged each morning with Pastor John. Again that's a dailywalk to 877-242-0828. It's time for us to part ways but we'll catch you back here next time on a daily walk with Pastor John Randall where you never have to walk alone.

This program is made possible through your generous support and brought to you by Calvary South OC.