READING: Review of Genesis 30-50
“You are to carry my bones up from here.”
Genesis 50:25
Yesterday’s devotion noted Joseph’s understanding that his story was not over even as he prepared for death. He so believed God would keep His word to bring His people back to Israel that he gave them guidance about his own final burial: “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. . . . When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here” (Gen. 50:24-25). He had himself spent his adult life in Egypt, but he was convinced God would get His people back to Israel. Even the writer of Hebrews would later characterize Joseph as a man of faith because of his belief in God’s future action: “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones” (Heb. 11:22).
Joseph knew that God had taken care of him in the past, and he trusted that God would take care of His people in the future. What we don’t often think about is that it would take centuries before the people would take Joseph’s bones back to the Promised Land. God would get His people back there—and Joseph would receive his final burial–but it would all occur according to God’s timing.
Faith simply trusts that God’s timing is always right.
ACTION STEPS:
- If you want God to hurry up in some area of your life, choose instead to trust Him with patience and faith.
- Thank God that His timing is never wrong.
PRAYER: “God, make me a patient person who lives by faith.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 1-5
