The story is ending. The last of the founding patriarchs are dying. This is a story of burials and not of births. Yet, hope remains. It remains in the hearts. It remains in the last request of Joseph to carry his bones back to the land of Canaan when God visits His people.<br />
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
Joseph is 28 years of age at the time of this chapter. [He has 2 more years of prison (Genesis 41:1) and is 30 years old when he is exalted (Genesis 41:46).] It has been 11 years since his brothers sold him into slavery. God has always been with him (Genesis 39:3, 21) but deliverance always seems out of his grasp. This chapter gives the breakthrough for which he had been looking. But, as we will see, it is also part of a long drawn out plan.<br />
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
The early history of Abraham (here, Abram) is a striking picture of what it means to leave the world and follow after God. He has delays and setbacks. He sometimes partially obeys and sometimes falls back from where he was. But he always finds a way with God’s help to get back on track. There is much we can learn from him.<br />
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
The Israelites are delivered from Egypt but they are not yet delivered from the Egyptians. So it often is with us today. We are delivered from the world but the world follows us into the wilderness. In fact, the wilderness time is a time to cast off the remaining vestiges of the world. And sometimes, as with the Israelites, it is a slow and difficult process. Yet, God is always available to conquer the foe—if we will only trust in Him.<br />
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
<h4>Numbered List</h4>
