Walking Faithfully in God’s Call

God’s Faithfulness to His Promise

Genesis 41:44–49 (NIV)

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.

Throughout the book of Genesis, the Lord has been revealing to us the truth and evidence of His faithfulness. Everything that God has said has been fulfilled.

Genesis 15:12–16 (NIV)

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

The promise of the Lord to Abraham is in the process of being fulfilled. Joseph’s life for the last 13 years has been marked by suffering, hardship, wrongful accusation, slavery, and imprisonment, but God did not abandon him. The punishment seen throughout Scripture of God’s judgment has been the same, the loss of God’s presence. Our circumstances are not a direct correlation with our position before the Lord. The storms of life are a blessing and a part of God’s plan, calling, and promise as He endures the storms with us.

God will Provide

Genesis 41:50–57 (NIV)

Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”

When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

Throughout the book of Genesis, the theme has been singular, God will provide. As Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, the Lord provided every seed bearing plant to be food for them. When they sinned against the Lord, God gave them skins to cloth them. When Cain killed Abel, the Lord gave Cain a mark of protection. When Noah needed deliverance from the coming judgment, the Lord gave Noah plans and time to build an ark. When Abraham needed decedents, the Lord gave him Isaac and Ishmael. When Abraham was tested and asked to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord provided the lamb in Isaac’s stead. When Isaac needed a wife, the Lord provided Rebekah. When Jacob needed refuge from Esau, the Lord provided Laban’s house. When Jacob needed to return hime, the Lord provided a softened Esau.

Genesis 22:8 (NIV)

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Genesis 22:14 (NIV)

So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

The Lord will provide for the promised family through Joseph as they will experience a rare event, the famine of both the fertile crescent which is fertilized by the Nile and the fertile valley of Palestine which is fertilized by the rains.

How are we then to live in faith and trust in God’s calling and promise in light of the truth that God always provides?