Genesis 46 Devotional

Do Not Be Afraid to Go

“I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.””Genesis 46:4 (BSB)

Jacob sets out for Egypt with everything he has, and at Beersheba he stops to offer sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. That night God speaks to him in a vision, calling him by name. He tells Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, because he will make him a great nation there. God himself will go down with him, and he will surely bring him back (46:2-4).

The chapter then lists the family that goes down, seventy in all (46:27). It is a small number for a people promised to become as many as the stars, but God says the growing will happen in Egypt. Moving to a foreign land was not a detour from the promise. It was part of it. The chapter ends with Jacob and Joseph reunited, weeping on each other's necks (46:29). Whatever unfamiliar place God is leading you into, the promise he gave Jacob still holds: he goes with his people, and he brings them home.

To think about: What move or change ahead of you would look different if you believed God was going with you?