I’ve been reading lately in Genesis and Exodus, and the thought crossed my mind—once the famine was over, why didn’t Jacob’s family return to the land that had been promised to him (Gen. 28:15)? The primary answer may be that once Jacob died his sons didn’t feel any tie to the land, so they decided to stay in Egypt where the living seemed good. But the greater reason wasn’t revealed for a few centuries. God told Moses to proclaim to Pharaoh, “For this purpose I have raised you up, to show you My power, so that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex. 9:16).
In a seminar he taught on Genesis 39, Russell Moore brought out an idea from an unnamed Catholic philosopher, that what happened to Joseph is part of the broader story—if Joseph’s robe hadn’t torn when Potiphar’s wife grabbed him, he wouldn’t have landed in prison where he interpreted dreams that led him to become Pharaoh’s aid, so that he could save his family during the famine, so that the exodus showed God’s power and brought Israel into the Promised Land, where the town of Bethlehem was settled, where Jesus was born, so that He could go to the cross, die, and be resurrected, so that we might have eternal life. “All of the Gospel then was dependent on how well one tailor sewed a robe.”
Of course, there are a lot of other details before, during, and after that list of events that all contribute to where we each are today as members of God’s family and His Church on earth. And probably all along the way people have wondered what God is doing and why things are happening as they are. We often can’t see how our individual stories connect with God’s overarching story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. This may be increasingly true the longer we wait for the Second Coming. Even when the Church was launched almost 2000 years ago, they thought the end was very near. Now we may wonder what the delay is and what purpose our lives serve to keep the story moving toward its ultimate consummation.
We need to revisit the narrative of Scripture frequently to remind us that God’s plan is far bigger than our own brief lives. Eugene Peterson wrote,
“This history is important, for without it we are at the mercy of whims. Memory is a databank we use to evaluate our position and make decisions. With a biblical memory we have two thousand years of experience… If we are going to live adequately and maturely as the people of God, we need more data to work from than our own experience can give us… If we never learn how to do this—extend the boundaries of our lives beyond the dates enclosed by our birth and death and acquire an understanding of God’s way as something larger and more complete than the anecdotes of our private diaries—we will forever be missing the point… For Christian faith cannot be comprehended by examining an Instamatic flash picture… it is a full revelation of a vast creation and a grandly consummated redemption” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, 160-164).
The things we do and experience today or tomorrow may seem purposeless and irrelevant in the grand scheme of life. Perhaps one way to look at it (and one I need to employ more often) is to ask, “How might this small task benefit God’s work in my church, my friends, my family, my own life, etc.?” As the old proverb goes, what consequences might ensue for want of a nail? What nail can you contribute today to serve God’s purpose in moving this battle on to its final conclusion?
“[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9).
© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.
