God of the Wanderers
Man in green forest surrounded by trees
Photo by Luis Del Río Camacho on Unsplash
Do you feel unsettled where you are? That’s normal. There is a feeling of something missing here in this world. We aren’t settled here. We shouldn’t be. The world actually isn’t our home, and we are wanderers within it, journeying towards our final destination.
Sometimes it can feel aimless, inefficient, and looping. A lot of “Why did we spend so much time there?” But we aren’t charting our own course. The Christian life isn’t a choose your own adventure. It is being led, no matter how much it doesn’t feel that way sometimes, by the Good Shepherd Himself. God is a journeying God, a God of the wilderness, the desert, the strange land far off, but not because He’s a gypsy. Not because He has commitment issues. It is because He is seeking the lost sheep, the wanderers, to bring them home. And He will wander with them all the way. Indeed, not all who wander are lost. In fact, only the wanderers after Jesus are saved.
In this passage we will see that God leads His people on a journey home.
God leads His people on a journey home
The fun begins right in our first verse with the word translated “journey.” This word shows up 12 times in Genesis recording the movements of Abraham and Jacob. This is the last time it shows up in this book, and appropriately as this is wrapping up the final chapters. This family has a legacy of the lengthy journey and now Jacob begins the last journey of this book. It has been a long trip, but it is ending with a beautiful reunion of his family.
However, we are going to make a quick stop along the way in Beersheba. If you don’t have your Bible atlas handy, I’ll just tell you that this is near the far southern border of Israel just before he leaves the country. It would be like saying that a person was on their way out of Alabama, God’s state, into Florida but they stopped in Brewton first. That’s right on the border.
But this stop isn’t a mark of hesitation. This is the place that his father, Isaac, settled back in chapter 26, specifically in verses 23-25: “From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.”
This is a stop for worship and reaffirmation from God Himself. Isaac was told not to go to Egypt in Genesis 26:1-5. In fact, he is the only patriarch not to have the word “journey” describe his life. How can Jacob be sure this is the right path? God Himself affirms the plan to go to Egypt. It’s been the plan since Genesis 15.
Can you hear the fatherly tone? I am the same God of your father. Don’t be afraid. Why? I will make you a great nation there. I have a purpose in this. I know you are going away from home, the very home I promised to give you. I’m going to build you into a nation just as I promised. Also, and this is the best part, I, God, will be with you.
The language here is emphatic. God is wanting to punch the point home that He, God Himself, is going to go down with Jacob. He isn’t doing this alone. Further, He isn’t going to leave him there in Egypt. He promises, with the same punch of emphasis, I will bring you back up home.
What a condescension! The God of the universe is going to move to Egypt with them? Following around 70 people?! But imagine the comfort of that. When you were a kid, having a trusted adult be with you in the dark is so comforting. I remember when Granger was young and moving into his own bed on the other side of the house wanted me to sit in his room while he would go to sleep. The call was always “sit ina chair.” Here God promises to sit ina chair, as it were, to lead them to Egypt and back home again.
Do you know God promises to do the same for you? Psalm 23 calling the Lord “my” Shepherd doesn’t stop with David who wrote it. We all call the Lord our Shepherd who leads us through the scary places of cancer treatment, troubled marriages, painful bodies, and even the good, yet still hard journey of raising children. He is with you in all of it. He, Himself.
And look at all who come with Jacob! This huge list of people are all the descendants so far! We could be forgiven thinking that it was still Jacob and his twelve sons because that is really all that have been mentioned so far, aside from Judah’s three and Reuben’s at least two. But now we find out that the family has grown! And depending on how you work the math, at least 70, and many more if you thrown in the wives are coming down to Egypt.
Why the odd math? Well, we aren’t sure! It depends on whether you want to count the sons of Joseph or not, the dead sons of Judah or not, whether you include Dinah or not or whether you include God Himself in that count or not (Matthews)! There is a way in which that number makes sense, but there are a number of ways to approach it. The main point is that a decent sized family is coming into Egypt.
But as we round the corner of the end of this chapter, we come to a most emotional conclusion to Jacob and Joseph’s story.
There is a wonderful detail in Jacob sending Judah ahead to prepare Joseph for their immediate arrival. The one who originally sold Joseph from his father is going to be the one to lead him back to his father.
There is such redeeming grace here, that I just wanted us to sit with that for a second. You just never know how God is going to conclude a story, and that has been the theme of Joseph’s life.
Joseph, riding his chariot, comes out to meet his father and the grand reunion takes place. It is almost impossible to imagine the power of such a reunion after being separated for twenty years each unsure if the other was even still alive (Matthews). Jacob feels that he is able to die in peace knowing that his son is alive and is able to see his face. He’ll actually live for another 17 years, so there is plenty of time to catch up.
This incredible story would have been amazing for the Exodus generation of Israel to hear. The next time we read the word “journey” that we saw in verse one is when they are on their “journey” out of Egypt as not only a family but a nation, exactly as God said.
They would be reminded that the God who promised to bring them out has done so, and this journey into Egypt has not been a mistake or bad decision. Imagine those who had grown bitter in slavery thinking that God had forgotten them are reminded in this story that they were right where God designed for them to be. It is only by keeping their entire story in mind does this seeming Egyptian detour make sense.
God has indeed been faithful to them, and He has been such for us.
While God had come down with the Israelites to their journey in Egypt, God has come down to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It was a condescension that is infinitely more impressive that what we see in this chapter. It is one thing to bring your blessing presence to Egypt, which I know Jacob and family appreciated. But when Jesus came down to live with His people, He got sand in His feet. He felt hunger, fatigue, and pain, dwelling among us as one of us (John 1:1-14). He moved into the neighborhood, as Eugene Peterson put it.
But Jesus didn’t come down just to be here. He didn’t dine with sinners so that they would stay right where they are. Like God promised Jacob, He is promising to bring these sinners home, to bring them up. He is the Good Shepherd leading them as He does so. He leads us to still waters and grassy areas along the way, but it isn’t the final destination.
He ascended up to heaven to prepare a place for us, a home, where we will have to wander no more. The journey will finally conclude. He has gone on ahead to prepare and welcome us when we arrive.
What will that welcome be like? There are a couple places in the Bible that hint to what it will be like. In Acts 7, we see one of the first Christian martyrs, Stephen, being stoned to death for his belief in Christ. As He is dying, he says that he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father. Now that should strike us. Why is Jesus standing? According to Hebrews Jesus sat down because the work was complete? So why is He standing here? Spurgeon I think has given the best answer in that Christ is standing to welcome one of His own home.
I can only imagine that the standing doesn’t last long. The picture of the joy of God to welcome a sinner home is in Luke 15 when the father of the prodigal son runs which wealthy noble Jews never do (MacArthur) to embrace his son. I can imagine that the same anticipation of Joseph riding that chariot hard to meet his father paints a picture of the anticipation of Christ welcoming His own home.
It isn’t death to die, but a welcome home.
So where do we go from here? Well, we remember that we are in fact going somewhere, and it isn’t here as the world presently stands. You are on your way to a glorious place where God’s presence dwells with beauty and fullness.
Along the way, we rest in the comfort of knowing that God is with us, that we make our home with Him now. The world is a hard place, a place of pain but not permanence. This, too, shall pass, all of it. And He is determined to pass through it with us. He has already endured the worst the world can throw, conquering even death itself. Now, we simply trust.“Keep close to God, and then you need fear nothing” (Joseph Eliot).
Evil can’t ultimately beat someone on their way to heaven. Whatever you are being called to endure, whatever your Egypt is, God has raced out to meet you there. So stay close. He’s leading you home. And as we will be reminded in the Supper, He is with us all the way.