Jacob had to go to Egypt! A place he’d never been. A place he knew his father Isaac had tried to go to, but God told him no and wouldn’t let him leave Canaan. A place where his grandfather, Abraham, had gone when he shouldn’t have and it ended badly for everyone. It was a scary place. It was an ominous place. The journey would be difficult. He felt that if He left the land, he would be leaving God. At Beersheba, the southern border of Canaan just as Jacob was about to step out of the Land that God had promised to him, he lost his nerve.
Then the God who made him, the God who loved him, comforted him and assured him. God said, “I am the God of your father. Don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt. I’m going to make you a great nation there. I’ll go with you down to Egypt.”
Who knows what “Egypt awaits us in 2005.” But, we have to go there. We’ve never been there before. It’s a scary place! And sometimes it’s an ominous place. But just remember, God says, “don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt…I’m going to bless you…and I’m going to go with you.”