April 17, 2023
Melissa Valerio
People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed – Samuel Johnson
The last 3 verses of the last chapter of Genesis read like this: “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.” (Genesis 50:24-26 CSB) Now in these days, the traditional burial site for those that passed would be in a tomb that was purchased or dug by the family. Yet in Joseph’s case, they did not place him in a tomb, which would have been permanent. At his instruction, they simply laid him to rest in a coffin. And then they waited. And waited. And waited. 400 years they waited, until they were able to come into the promise that God made to Abraham back in Genesis 15, “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.‘” (Genesis 15:13-14 CSB) And true to His word, the Lord freed the Israelites from slavery. Led by Moses, they took the bones of Joseph with them as they left. (Exodus 13:19)
God bless Joseph! For knowing and believing with all his heart that death for him in Egypt was not the end of the story for him or the Israelites! He was rooted in his faith, being taught at an early age from his father that God made them a promise. A rock-solid, non-budging, bank-your-entire-life (and death) promise. He knew Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He might lie, or a son of man, that He might change His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” (CSB). He knew it and believed it, even before it was recorded by Moses more than 400 years later. Joseph knew that although he wouldn’t live to see the promise fulfilled, his descendants would, and when that promise was fulfilled, he was going with them. I can’t think of a better way to worship the Lord than to live in His promises and to die in His faithfulness.
Prayer: Heavenly Lord, Your Word contains thousands of promises to us. But not only that, You make personal promises to us in our individual lives, just like You did with Abraham. Give us the resolve to continue believing in Your promises to us, even if it doesn’t look like it’s coming anytime soon. Your promise is more reliable than the rising of the sun each morning. Teach us to persevere in the strength of Your Spirit. In Your Son’s precious name, Amen.
Action: God works in each of our lives individually. And He makes personal promises to each of us based on His plan for us. If you’ve received a personal promise from Him, ask Him how you can prepare to receive it. If you haven’t yet received a personal promise, ask Him how you can prepare to hear the promise. In either case, some of us will see it come to reality in this life, some of us won’t. It does not mean the promise failed. Joseph understood this and prepared anyway. We can do the same in the way we live, and even in the way we die.