The ability to make Choices

 

Genesis 50:22-26

What a journey it has been, so many mornings asking the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to truth, and give me the ability to convey it, so that whoever reads what I’ve written will be blessed and my prayer is that they will desire a relationship with the Creator, Jesus Christ.  On that first day of my search into this great book, I asked this question; “Have you ever given thought to the first verse of Genesis?  That verse with ten words will establish what you believe about God.” 

The book about beginnings is also about man’s ability to make choices: how to enter into a relationship with Creator God, to seek Him and to obey Him, and to trust Him to keep his promises.  And that is why the ending of this book has such an impact, because it ends with Joseph believing God will keep His promise.

This was the promise that was made to Abraham, “Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.  But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.” (Genesis 15:13-14)  It is now the end of Joseph’s 110 years of life and Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”  Jacob is saying what the apostle Paul said so many years later about Abraham’s faith in Romans 4:21, “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” 

A personal note at this point to my grandsons, John Mark and Zachary David, the deck is stacked against trusting in a Creator God who is unseen, and yet from a child your parents have instructed you in righteousness and truth of the Scripture.  So why did I say the deck is stacked against you believing and trusting in His ability to keep all His promises?  The old serpent, the devil and the world system are telling you to trust in self, in people, or in something as foolish as government, they are telling you to do it your way, to live life dependant on anything but a God who is unseen.

The Scripture states the following in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.  And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”  My hope is that I will enjoy many years with the two of you, that I will see your faith and you will enjoy fellowship with Jesus and the walk that Abraham experienced.  Many years had passed and Joshua is being led to lead the people into the land promised by God, and this is God’s commission to Joshua, and a wise man will make this his charge.  “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)  Guys, it is a wise man who takes to heart that commission to Joshua and what the apostle Peter has to tell you in 2 Peter 1:3-4.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Bob or Granddad