Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Trusting God Outside Your Comfort Zone | Torah | Genesis 46

Episode Date: April 20, 2022

What makes you feel safe? What would it be like to lose that safety? Would you be able to trust God even then? In today's episode, Jensen shares how Jacob takes a step out of his comfort zone in Genesis 46. Find out how God responds. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Passages: Genesis 46 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Right now, we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Before I went to the University of Missouri, I had attended small Christian schools my whole life. And as you can imagine, I went to hundreds of Bible classes during this time. I'm sure a lot of them were great, but honestly, I couldn't tell you what happened in most of them. But there is one that sticks out to me. It was freshman year and my Bible teacher handed out an article for us to read. The title went something like, Pastor holds weekly Bible study at local Hooters.

What followed was an hour of our class debating whether or not this pastor should have gone into a Hooters to hold a Bible study. I remember that day because it posed an interesting question. For what it's worth, I don't remember what conclusion we came to and today we will not be deciding whether it was okay for a pastor back in 2010 to have a Bible study in a Hooters. But I do remember wrestling with the question this article posed for a long time. Is there any place that is too far gone for God to redeem? Anywhere that we'd be surprised if God called us to go there. In Genesis 46, we see God calling Jacob and his family to an unexpected place. At the end of the last chapter, Jacob has just learned that his beloved son Joseph is alive.

and he sent carts and donkeys and provisions to bring him to Egypt. And so Jacob begins to do just that. So Israel, remember, that's Jacob. So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. So on his way down to Egypt, he stops to make sacrifices to God. And while we don't know the reason for stopping explicitly from the text, the next verses gives us an idea of how Jacob is feeling in this moment.

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, Jacob, Jacob, here I am, he replied. I am God, the God of your father, he said, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes. So God speaks to Jacob through another vision, and this time it's to reassure Jacob that it is part of his plan for him to go down to Egypt. It may seem odd to modern ears that Jacob would be afraid to go to Egypt.

He hasn't seen his son in years. He's been sent gifts and provisions. His son is the ruler of the land. Why would he be afraid to go to Egypt? We have to think like Jacob, though. Jacob knew his family history. He knows that Abraham fled to Egypt during. a time of famine, and it was there that he sinned against his wife and God.

Later in his father Isaac's life, the Lord specifically forbid Isaac to travel down to Egypt during the time of a famine. Currently, Jacob is living in what is to be the promised land, the land that the Lord has promised Abraham and his descendants that they will be given to live in. And so it makes sense that Jacob has reservations or maybe is fearful about leaving this land. It hasn't gone well for those before him. God had specifically forbid it for his father, and the Lord had promised to be with his people and bless them in and with the promised land. And so God speaks directly to Jacob about his plans to go down to Egypt, and rather than agree with Jacob's fears and tell him to stick with the promised land,

unexpectedly, God reassures him about his decision to go down to Egypt. And he does three things to reassure him. First, he reminds Jacob of who he is. He is God, the God of Jacob's father. He is the God who provided a son in Abraham's old age. He is the God who wrestled with him. He is powerful and present, creator and sustainer. Next, he reminds Jacob that the promises he has made, hold fast wherever he goes. God promises to make Jacob into a great nation in Egypt. Leaving the promised land and going somewhere that feels far from God's plan does not disqualify him from God's promises. God tells him not to be afraid, but to trust that even in Egypt, God can do big things. He's God, and he will use this time in Egypt to grow Jacob's family into a nation, and we'll see that he does just that. And last, we see God promised to

with Jacob in Egypt and to eventually bring his family back to the promised land. Although this may feel like a detour to Jacob and his family, God is promising that he will be present with them, outside of the promised land, and that he will continue to provide a way back into the promised land. We, on the other side of the exodus, know this to be true. God is with this family as they grow into the nation of Israel. It may have seemed like a bad idea for Jacob to leave the promised land when his descendants became slaves and suffered under Egyptian rule. But God is with them as he promised in those difficulties, and he hears their cries. Just like he promised Jacob here, he delivers them. And through that deliverance out of the darkness of Egypt, we and the Israelites for generations are given a clear picture of God's redemptive story.

And so while it may seem scary or counterintuitive for Jacob to leave the promised land and go somewhere that seems outside of God's plan, we see God promising to be with his people even in the unexpected places. And we see him using those places to accomplish his larger story. Do you believe that this is true in your life too? Are there places in your life that feel safe, like the promised lamb may have felt to Jacob and his family? Maybe you feel safe in Christian community. You feel safe volunteering at your church and being hospitable to your close friends. Maybe safety means having a healthy family or being financially stable with a job in a 401k. Whatever it is that makes you feel safe, comfortable, at ease with life, think about that.

And now what would it look like for you to lose that safety? Feeling called to build relationships with people outside of your church. Being hospitable to people who aren't easy to talk to or don't. don't look or sound like you. Volunteering with an organization that feels out of your comfort zone. Watching someone in your family face serious illness. Losing a job and now suddenly money is tight. Losing a family member or a spouse.

Facing a season of depression or anxiety, moving to a new city and having to build new connections and relationships. In the midst of all the places that don't feel safe, the situations in life that you wouldn't choose for yourself, or the places that maybe you wouldn't naturally want to go into. God has promised to be with you and to bring you out of it. Psalm 23 paints a beautiful picture of God's presence and his provision for his people, even in times of trouble. I'm sure you've heard it.

David writes, Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. When you face unexpected places of trouble and sorrow and darkness, the Lord is with you. Find comfort in the promise that all the days of your life, the hard days included, God's goodness and love are with you. You can find hope that even in the midst of the unexpected places, the promised land is still ahead. We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Just like with Jacob and his family, God is with us in these places. And just like with Jacob and his family, God uses these places to accomplish his mission. If we look at the life of Jesus, we see him again and again going into unexpected places to accomplish his mission. We see him eating with tax collectors and speaking to prostitutes. He stepped into the messiness of humanity and faced the people. the darkness so that his kingdom would spread in the places that needed hope and healing the most. And at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, he calls his disciples you and me to partner with him and to do the same. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. So he doesn't say, stay and make disciples where it feels safe, where people look like you when it's comfortable. No, he says, go and make disciples of all nations. And he promises to be with his people as we do just that. While this doesn't mean that every Christian needs to pack up

and move to their own version of Egypt to spread the gospel, I think it should challenge us to look around us and seek out the places in our life that we overlook or refuse to go into because it doesn't feel safe. Places that might make us uncomfortable. Those are exactly the places that Jesus walked into and saw as the places that desperately needed the light of the gospel. Where is God calling you to be faithful in unexpected places? Maybe you're facing unexpected darkness, or maybe you're feeling convicted of a place you need to step into to go out and partner with God in his mission. Whatever it is, remember that God promises to be with his people, even in the unexpected places.

He is God. His promises are true wherever life takes you. He will be with you wherever you go. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.