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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster mystery. Intrigued, theft, reunions, and all in three chapters. We wrapped up with Jacob agreeing to move his family to Egypt on the king's tab to ride out the last five years of the famine. When we open today, Jacob is packing up all his stuff, even though Pharaoh told him not to, to start out their 450 mile journey. But I suppose I wouldn't want to leave my goats to starve in the famine either. So whatever. Their first stop for his massive caravan is in Beersheba, where he offers a sacrifice to God. Both his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham lived in Beersheba at one point in their lives. So this may have been some kind of nostalgic final farewell to his homeland. Especially since he expects to die in Egypt. While he's in Beersheba, he makes a sacrifice to God and he has a vision where God tells him to go to Egypt. This is noteworthy because Egypt is generally regarded as a terrible place for Hebrews to go. The Egyptians were enemies of God's people. They were racist and they enslaved them. So it could be really terrifying. But God comforts Jacob and promises to be with him. This is a good place for me to mention the difference between God's general presence everywhere, which is called omnipresence, and his special presence, which is called manifest presence. Saying God is everywhere is different than saying God is here. Even if God hadn't made this promise to Jacob, since he's omnipresent, we could easily conclude that God is in Egypt regardless. But when God promises to be with Jacob in Egypt, that's a nod to his manifest presence. Here's how I like to think of it. Have you ever used the filters on Instagram where you can increase the saturation? You didn't invent the red in your picture. It was already there. But when you dial up that saturation, it sure does make that red pop. It's far more noticeable, more manifest. That's one way we can think of God's promise to be with Jacob, just like he was with Joseph in prison. And it was obvious to Joseph, and also its effects were obvious to everyone around him. He seemed to have a wisdom and a peace that indicated he knew something they didn't know. Skip ahead a few thousand years and we now have access to God, the Spirit who dwells in all believers. And we carry him with us wherever we go. But this was not the case back then. God's special presence was a unique thing. That's why in the Psalms, David could pray a prayer saying, do not take your holy spirit from me and have that be a real thing he was actually concerned about. But today, for those of us who have his spirit, which is all of God's adopted children, that prayer is a moot point. He has filled and sealed us with his spirit and promises to stay with us for good. So God promises that his presence will go with Jacob and he promises to make him into a great nation while they're in Egypt, the land of their enemies. They start out as 70 people, but it won't stay that way for long. When they arrive, we have this beautiful father son reunion. And Joseph instructs them what to say when they meet with Pharaoh. Later. He wants to make sure they have access to the land of Goshen, which was the good fertile land they would need for feeding their animals. Joseph knows the best way to do that is to let Pharaoh know that they're shepherds, especially because Egyptians had a unique disdain for shepherds. And Goshen, which was a little further out, would be a good place to keep those Hebrew shepherds at arms length. When five of the brothers meet with Pharaoh, things go perfectly according to plan. He agrees to let them live in Goshen. When Jacob goes before Pharaoh, he blesses him. Then they chit chat a bit. And in this conversation we see how much humility God has developed in Jacob. Remember how Jacob manipulated things to get what he wanted from both his father and his father in law? Remember the scarcity mentality that drove him to half truths and self protection? He recognizes it. He says, few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. He's humbled. Jacob's family thrives in Egypt. Over the next few years, even as the famine gets worse, Joseph makes a few more business arrangements to provide for the people. First he buys their livestock, then he buys their land. Then he buys even themselves in service in exchange for seeds. Then buy provided they give 20% of what they grow back to Pharaoh. Some people say he was exploiting the people, but the people themselves seem to be grateful. At the very least, that goes to show the magnitude of the famine. At the end of our reading, the famine has been over for more than a decade and Jacob and his family are still living in Egypt for some reason. But they're flourishing and multiplying. In preparation for his death, Jacob asked Joseph to make him a promise. He has Joseph put his hand under his thigh. Now remember, we've talked about this type of agreement before and what this symbolizes. Jacob is asking his son Joseph to swear on Jacob's offspring, which includes Joseph himself, that Joseph won't leave his bones in Egypt. God promised to be with Jacob in Egypt and to bring him up out of Egypt as well. And this is how Jacob is ensuring that this happens. Jacob believes God's promises will happen for him, dead or alive. What was your God shot today? I loved seeing God's presence in the land of their enemies in the midst of a famine. God provided for his people. They flourished. He had a plan and a promise to bring the Messiah through their bloodline. So it was imperative that they flourish. And there's no true flourishing apart from the presence of God. There's accumulation of goods, there's happiness. For sure, wicked people can and do succeed. We learned that in Job. But they don't flourish, not in the deepest sense. They build temporary castles and seek fleeting pleasures. But their souls don't thrive like the people who draw near to God's presence, the people who know he's where the joy is. It's time for our weekly check in. So how are you doing? If you're behind, that's okay. Keep at it. You're probably reading the Bible more than you would on your own. And you probably know God better every time you close your Bible like we saw today, God is with his people, which now includes you. He's always with you, providing for you, caring for you and leading you. I'm asking him to help you see his presence in your life because it's such an unbelievable gift. We get to have a relationship with him. We get to know him more and more each day as we keep looking for him in these chapters. We're almost finished reading through two books of the Bible together. I know I've definitely grown in my knowledge of God and my love for him. And I'm hoping you have too. I'll see you back here tomorrow.