“Make sure that the same God who called you here is calling you away.” Virtus Gideon spoke those words in a New Testament class in seminary. I listened to him. Those words confirmed what I had learned in the scriptures: God himself directs our steps. We can trust him to reveal what we need to know. From time to time a church invited me and our family to move. But I could only go if I knew that God was calling me away.
Jacob’s family was not exempt from the suffering caused by the great famine. Egypt had food because Joseph had prepared for the famine in the seven good years. His interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream not only saved his life, but the lives of his family members. God who had placed Jacob in the land now called him to leave Israel and go to Egypt. He obeyed. His sons buried him. Joseph died in Egypt, but his bones were carried out with Israel when they crossed into the promised land.
Where has God put you? No matter if you would have chosen this place. Believe that God is directing your steps. If God placed you where you are, he can get you out. Sometimes we calculate without God and lament the things which have put us where we are. Dallas Willard said, “God has never helped anyone in any place except where they are.” Truth! Joseph worked in Egypt while his father was back in Israel. But God found a way. He always does. We sing, “Waymaker, miracle Worker, Light in the darkness . . .You are!”
