At the beginning of October, I kickstarted a bible study plan on Youversion thanks to my friend – Nonye. The bible study plan took us through the lives of Jacob, Joseph, and his brothers. I am pleasantly surprised at how much this study has blessed me. The study plan helped me to see things that I had not seen from my past study of these lives. As I concluded this bible plan yesterday, all I could say was God is soooo Goood! I highly recommend this bible plan, you can check it out here – https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/26293 Amongst so many things I have learned from God’s word in these past 21 days, I will share one of them with you in this blog post today. One of the things God has impressed upon my heart to share with you.
So this wisdom of God that I will share with you today starts off from Genesis 47:4 NLT which says, “We have come to live here in Egypt for a while, for there is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan. The famine is very severe there. So please, we request permission to live in the region of Goshen”. This verse highlights Joseph’s brothers speaking to the Pharaoh of Egypt as directed by Joseph. The emphasized word in this phrase in that verse is “for a while”. These young men were successful people in Canaan land but for the famine that ravaged the world, they had to move to Egypt for a while. But as the story continues, we see that these men lived in Egypt till they and their families became enslaved to the Egyptians.
As I read that portion of the bible on that fateful morning, the Lord brought to my mind how this relates to His children on earth right now. Just like Joseph’s brothers who begged the Pharoah to give them permission to live in Goshen, so do we ask and beg God for His blessings, increase, breakthrough, and so on. But we are so quick to forget that those blessings are for a while! We forget so quickly, become so comfortable, and allow those things that God has blessed us with to enslave us. For example, an individual who had prayed so hard for a great job gets the job, then forgets to acknowledge the God who gave the job. He or she stops fellowshipping with God as they used to before they got the job, he or she values the job and places the job over God. And the list goes on and on.
I would love to let you know that there are so many grounds to cover, so many limits to be broken, and so many heights to be attained in God’s kingdom for us to relent in our pursuit of intimacy with God. Perhaps if God’s people had pursued intimacy with God in Egypt, God would have revealed to them their future in Egypt. On the contrary, Father Abraham who pursued intimacy with God had the revelation of the Israelites’ slavery so many years ahead of time – Genesis 13:13-16.
The summary of today’s blog post is – never allow anything God has blessed you with to enslave you. Do not exalt those things above the Lord because there are so many grounds to be covered, so many blessings God has in store for you, and so many breakthroughs to accomplish. But when you are unfaithful with the little God has blessed you with, He may not trust you with so much more He has for you – Luke 16:10. If God has brought you this far, allow Him to sustain you, and allow Him to take you further. Never allow your mind or flesh or the devil to trick you into thinking you have arrived. Life’s journey is unpredictable but with constant fellowship with God, you can be rest assured to remain guided, strengthened, and helped.
Therefore, dear friend who may have become complacent with your walk with God after enjoying His blessings, please return to your first love. Go back to how you used to be with the Lord and even soar higher in Jesus’ name.