Rev. Don Campbell
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, JANUARY 28, 2019: WHEN IT COMES OUR TIME TO GO [Gen 46-47]
Today’s reading tells the story of Jacob his family, 70 members in all resettling peacefully in the land of Goshen where they would tend not only their own flocks but those of Pharaoh. God spoke to Jacob in a vision reassuring him that it was God’s plan for all of this to happen: “And God spoke to Israel in visions in the night and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand will close your eyes’” (Gen 46:2-4). Jacob, who only a short time before faced his final years in hopeless grief, will see his lost son again and enjoy him and his family for the next 17 years and die surrounded by family.
The entire story is unique, and we would be foolish to conclude from this that God guarantees any of us that we will live to a ripe old age and when it comes our time to go that we will be surrounded by family and pass peacefully into eternity. We can rest in full assurance that whenever we die, wherever we die, and whatever the circumstances under which we die if we walk with God in life, he will not abandon us in death.
Because Jesus tasted death for us, we will never need to cry out, “My God. my God, why have you forsaken me?” Dying can be a long, painful experience, but we need have no fear of death, but can say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
None of us know when it will come our time to depart this world. One person said something like this: “I’ve had my bags packed for the journey for years; I’m just waiting for the Lord to tell when it is time to take the trip.”
CONNECTIONS
1. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Paul tells us there are two things which must fill our hearts to enable us to view death as a victory instead of defeat: The indwelling Spirit which has been given to us as a guarantee of the redemption of the body (v.5) and faith in God’s promises (v.7). Do you have them?
2. Are your bags packed?
