Last week we saw that we can look
at how good God has been to His children in the Bible as well as to
us in the past. Then when we see how good He has been, our faith
can be raised and we can look forward to the future, knowing that
He is in charge and will look after us. Walking side by side with
Him, we can be assured that all things will work together for our
good.
Jacob heard the best news of his
life, his son, Joseph was alive and well. He was ecstatic and his
spirit revived. He took all that he owned and started out on their
journey to Egypt. But on his way, he stopped at Beersheba and
offered sacrifices to God there. Then God appeared to him in a
vision at night:
"Jacob! Jacob!" And he said,
"Here I am." So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not
fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation
there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely
bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes."
Genesis 46:2-4
Isn't God just amazing? Even though
Jacob's sons came and told him that Joseph is alive and that they
must move to Egypt as the famine will still continue for another
five years, God came to reassure Jacob. God told him that they
shouldn't fear, He will go with them and will come back with them
one day again. He also promised that He will make Jacob and his
descendants into a great nation.
This was a very important move in
Jacob's life. They were living in Israel, the land which God had
promised to his grandfather, Abraham. And therefore it was not easy
for Jacob to just move even though all the evidence pointed towards
Egypt. Jacob then honored God by offering sacrifices to God and God
answered him and reassured him that he was doing the right thing in
moving to Egypt.
Today we also have big decisions
that we need to make. Circumstances might be screaming one thing to
us, but is that truly what we must do? Where does God want us to
be? It might not be the same than what the world would want us to
believe.
We have several big decisions that
we need to make in life. What to study, who to marry, where to
work, where to live, where to send our kids to school etc. etc.
There are many big decisions that need to be made and we need to
make sure that we are making them with God by our side. We cannot
make these big decisions based on other people's opinions, on
circumstances around us or even on what we want. We need to make
these decisions with God and ask Him to help and lead us. He knows
best, He and He alone. The world and what they say do not
matter.
Once we know that there is a big
decision to be made we need to spend time in His Word and in
prayer. We need to be open to His Spirit's leading. We can then
move in the direction that we believe God is sending us in and then
we can follow the open doors and find confirmation in the closed
ones. And if God leads us to, we can get independent Godly guidance
from councilors that we can trust. Otherwise wait for God's
leading.
I have had to make a lot of big
decisions in my life and God has been so faithful. Several times I
didn't know what to do and after spending a lot of time with God in
His Word and in prayer, I have been lead to the right decision.
Notice, a lot of time, I didn't have the right answer after the
first prayer. Other times I still didn't know and then I just did
what I could do and followed the open doors to the right decision.
There are many ways but it all starts with God. Go and spend time
with Him. Do not allow outside forces, fear, other peoples'
opinions influence you. Most of the time they don't even know what
they are doing with their own lives let alone yours. Rather spend
the time with God and allow Him to move you. You will not be
disappointed.
Father please help us with the big
decisions in our lives. Lead us to where we need to be and what we
need to do. We desperately need Your guidance in our lives. Walk in
front and lead the way. Without You we will be lost. Thank you that
we can trust You. Amen