“For the ignorant, old age is as winter; but for the learned, it is a harvest.”  So says an old Jewish proverb!  As one gets older change can certainly be challenging, and Jacob demonstrates very great trust as he sets out on his journey to Egypt at the age of 130! Jacob had learned many lessons in his walk with God, and in the harvest of his life and the seventeen years left to him, he would learn even more about God’s protection.  How gracious and loving of God to reassure him that all would be well saying: – “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt…”v.3-4.  Beersheba was a special place for Jacob for Abraham had dug a well there and lived there after offering up Isaac on Mount Moriah.  Isaac also had lived at Beersheba and Jacob left from there when he went to Laban’s house to find a wife. 

At this point in the narrative Jacob is poised to leave his own country and go to a strange new land, and so he pauses to build an altar and worships God Almighty.  This is a good principle to follow, for it is important that when we begin a new phase in our lives, we ask for God’s guidance and help, for change is often not easy. It is very likely that Jacob felt anxious about going to Egypt, in spite of encouraging messages from Joseph.  What a comfort he must have experienced as God reminded him that He did not limit Himself to Canaan only for He was, and is Lord of the whole earth!   

Try to imagine the scene as finally Jacob is reunited with his son Joseph!  What joy and tears there must have been as all the families of the eleven brothers with their goods and livestock arrived in this new and strange land.  Joseph directed his large family in what to say, and the behaviour that was expected of them.  They were even welcomed by Pharaoh who enabled them to settle in Goshen, which was the best part of the land of Egypt!  The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?”  Psalm 27 vv 1&2.  What a privilege to know God’s presence in our lives and to have inspiring saints of old as examples to follow! 

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Almighty God, Thank you for the wonderful plans you have for those who love and follow you and for the assurance of the Holy Spirit to guide, reassure and comfort us whatever our journey or whatever changes we have to face - large or small! Amen.