A New Home

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

A NEW HOME

Gen 46:26-34

26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob — those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives — numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob's family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all. 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. 30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive." 31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.' 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, 'What is your occupation?' 34 you should answer, 'Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians."

NIV

We confess we skipped the genealogy of all the sons of each wife and the sons of all the sons. We might have learned from all those names that it is good to keep track of our genealogy, knowing the names of our ancestors. However, our story is now from Egypt. First, we see this wonderful moment when Joseph throws his arms around his father, and how Jacob is so overcome, his response is that he was ready to die seeing Joseph was alive. We know that when we see our Heavenly Father we may not be able to throw our arms around him, and He will never die, but that does not diminish the wonderful moment when we see Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, the things of earth would have be dimmed already for we would be standing, no, bowing before our Lord God Almighty, our Heavenly Father, with so much love and gratitude in our hearts for our salvation would be complete. It is almost too much to imagine what that moment would be when we see our Lord face to face and He gives us a place to settle, whatever that looks like. We know the song about a mansion just over the hilltop, but Jesus only promised that in His Father's house, there are many rooms or residences or abodes, and He was preparing a place for us. Whatever the place is, when we bow before our God we will not have to tell him our occupation, for He will know that we are His children, his descendants, as co-heirs with Jesus, and He will know and call each of us by name. Jacob was told to call himself a servant of Pharoh, but we are not servants of God, for Jesus calls us friends, and the Father calls us his children. We think it would be best as we walk the rest of our days here, we live with love and gratitude in our hearts and minds to our Heavenly Father because of his great love for us sending Jesus to bring us home. Shepherds were detestable to Egyptians, but we will never be detestable to our Heavenly Father for He sees us in Jesus, holy and blameless, His children. Jacob was given the best, the land of Goshen. We will be given a land far superior to anything on the earth when Jesus comes to take us home. Although we have our earthly homes, when Jesus comes for us we will have a new home. This world is not our home, we are just a-passing through, our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue, the angels beckon us from heaven's open door, and we can’t feel at home anymore, for we are moving to a new home.