Ready or Not | Genesis 46 | Crossroads Daily

Because I come from a legacy of people of faith. I come from a legacy of people who loved and followed Jesus. And so, like, in what ways is some of the blessing that I'm experiencing God's answer to the prayers of four or five generations ago? This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Debo. I'm Miko. I'm Peter. So, what a story, right? I mean, lots of names in this chapter. Got a lot of name options for people. There you go. If you're thinking about naming a baby, you got some names to pick from, right? But man, I think even that is just because it's showing God's faithfulness across the generation. So, when you think about this story and your life story, where do you see God's faithfulness to you? Or even if you want to think about his faithfulness to your family over generations. So, I'll start. Like, a couple of months now, probably 15 years ago, there was a dear woman. She's with the Lord now, but she did genealogy work. And she traced my family lineage back multiple generations. Like, more history than I knew. And basically, on my mother's side and on my dad's side, was able to trace it to what I believe were the enslaved individuals, those particular enslaved individuals that I come from.

And then, you know, I've often thought about this when I think about me being a pastor at a church that is majority white, certainly diverse, and how that was not even possible in those generations. And I also think about, like, were they people of faith? And did they pray? Because I come from a legacy of people of faith. I come from a legacy of people who loved and followed Jesus. And so, like, in what ways is some of the blessing that I'm experiencing God's answer to the prayers of four or five generations ago? And I think that just makes me really, really thankful. And it gives me hope because as a parent, you know, my kids will tell you, like, if there's a life verse I have for my kids, it's 3 John 2, which says, I have no greater joy than to see that you're walking in the truth. I want my kids to be successful. I want my kids to find good mates, all of that. But the thing I want most is for them to know, love, and follow Jesus. And this year, we got to baptize our third and last child. My daughter got baptized. So when I think about that, like, even that is God's answer to prayer of generations ago. And it gives me hope that he'll continue to answer those prayers. My prayer would be, you know, at some point, Jesus is going to come back. But until Jesus comes back, my prayer would be that if there are mingos on the earth, that they love, know, and follow Jesus. That's my prayer for my family. I see God's faithfulness over time. I think about where I am. So what about you guys? What comes to mind when you think about God's faithfulness? It can be personal, be family, but, like, where you've seen his faithfulness

over time. I feel like my mom's more qualified to answer this to me in some ways because she's done all the research on the family. She's traced stuff back to, like, Revolutionary War soldiers and stuff. Like, she's like, she really loves that stuff. But what I will say is almost a flip in a way of what you were saying, Chuck, of I see, I do know some immediate generations, like, there's a lot of brokenness, a lot of generational curses, a lot of, like, tough, dark things. And both my parents have done a lot of work to not pass that down to myself and my siblings. So I see redemption. I see, like, the beginning of something that I hope to pass down to, you know, if I have kids one day, I hope to pass down to them. I love that, man. Yeah. Yeah, I think for me, I just think of, like, his provision over my life and over my family's life. My mom is an immigrant. She moved here when she was, like, 17 years old from Ethiopia. And she left, met my dad, and ended up starting a new life here. And she didn't know if she would go back to see her family at what point. And it took 20 years for her to go back to see her family. And so my brother and I were there for that moment. And to see them reunite was the most, I almost kind of think of this, like, story in the Bible with Joseph and his dad. Like, because I kind of lived that with my mom and her mom after hearing all these stories of my grandmother and her faith and this to see, like, my mom and her joy. Just, I'm so thankful because my mom took the step of faith and knew that she would have a better life here.

And my brother and I benefit from that. And along with those things, like, her faith is something that she passed on to me and my brother. And we hold so strongly to. But to also see the generations when we got to travel and see our family and our cousins and meet our grandma for the first time. It was just, like, the most beautiful thing to see where we come from. Yeah. Wow. Can I ask you a curiosity question? Yeah. So was Christian faith in your family for generations back? Yes, yeah, I mean when you said that one of the things that I love is they actually have found churches in Ethiopia That are among the oldest churches in the world. Yeah, and so yeah, the opiate is a unique spiritual legacy Not for maybe everybody, but certainly it sounds like for your family. Absolutely Y'all got people who've been following Jesus That's my mom's shared, you know her love for her country and our heritage because of that Yeah, as you see it in the Bible you see Ethiopia and Ethiopians throughout the story of the Bible And so it is so cool to learn about that. Yes, and I feel proud. Yeah Yeah, well here's the truth I talked a little bit about like my hope for my kids like I'm sure there are things that we're Also still holding hope for right Brokenness and patterns that haven't yet Yeah, you know found their found their release in our family line and then you know, I got I got lots of those stories, too Right. So as you think about what you're holding out hope for What are you learning about? What it means to be faithful in the waiting? I mean, I'm immediately thinking about Joseph as you asked that question he's partially because at the very beginning of the chapter God reconfirms his promise to Jacob yeah, and Joseph is actually included in Hebrews 11 and what we call the Hall of Faith. Yeah And but what what he's listed in the Hall of Faith for is not any of the great dream interpretation

It's not feeding the world in a famine. It's not all these things that he did It's that he still remembered the promise God gave to his father and asked for his bones to be buried in Canaan That's why he's listed in the Hall of Faith. And that's what he's credited with That's right, because he still believed in that promise And so I'm just thinking about and I wasn't even given to him. He's giving to his dad. Yeah, right Yeah, so there's this like the generational connection the yeah And so in this story like Jacob becomes a character again, right like this Yeah, this chapter really says hey, ultimately this is God being faithful to Jacob. Yeah. Yes You're saying God is the star I love that man. I love that this week is making me think so much about my mom I think I'm gonna call her after this just seeing her posture of Just what just different seasons with me and my brother and the way that she has just like been anchored in faith and hope And trust and then it's like it seems like God has just been taking her deeper into these things Like there's not this new thing. He's showing her. He's taking her deeper into trust deeper into faith over the years One of the things that she'll always share with me Randomly, it's like when we're talking and if I say something and she's like man The words coming out of your mouth are like answer prayers for like what I prayed There were no seasons when you were just like lost and just you know doing your own thing It's just I can hear the things you're saying now. It's like so I guess for her It's just like food for her soul, you know to it like that's yeah I don't want to put words in her mouth, but it's like to a degree that's what that's what it sounds like when she speaks about it because it's like She's like this like I'm hearing. Yeah, my prayers being answered, you know in this and just even just changing just Our family dynamic, you know what? I mean like being married and you know having our youngest son, you know Which is just not the case for our family, you know people being married and you know Typically, it's just you know, a bunch of brokenness or whatever, but I don't know So seeing her sit in the joy of it and then also walking alongside her, you know I mean, it's my mom for years and just seeing like how faithful she has been through all of it how Like she hasn't wavered, you know how she has

Remained steadfast in her trust of God like that that there's never been a season where that story has shifted You know what? I'm since my childhood So, yeah, that's beautiful man, that's beautiful and again I think about I think about Jacob in this story, right? Like just the joy. I mean he says what does he say now? Let me die. Yeah, because I've seen your face I mean, he's not saying that I want to die instantly. But yeah, he's saying like It is enough. Yeah, my life is complete. Yeah, I have seen God's goodness. Yeah God owes me nothing. I mean that's really what he's saying. It's like God, you don't owe me another thing Yes, and would that we would be at a place of seeing God's faithfulness over the God if you don't do another thing, right? You don't owe me anything. Yeah And I have this side of heaven too. That's that's wild. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Yeah I wish I had that kind of contentment. Like yeah, right. Yeah, I mean how I would live different It's hard to be in that place right it's hard to be in that place Yeah, that's good. Man. What practices keep you in a place of gratitude? Cuz cuz cuz Jacob has this posture of gratitude Joseph has this posture of gratitude. What keeps you in a place of gratitude? I think literally what you're saying, practicing gratitude, like whether it's a gratitude journal or whether it's choosing to just verbalize that. I know there's been times where like, I would just be feeling low, I would feel pressure and I'm like, I would just shift and just start being, just start acknowledging things that I'm grateful for in that day and literally my entire mood would change. Like I think practicing gratitude. Remembering, it's remembering stuff. It's okay, this mentor,

I'm thinking of like this art teacher that came to my, this mentor, the things God has provided, has shown, like the way, like monetarily, he's brought all the different provisions, all the different moments and acts of faithfulness, like just remembering those, all of a sudden everything's in perspective again. I think it's why God had them when he parted the Jordan River. That's right, that's right. When they finally enter the promised land that we're talking about in this chapter and he has them stack a bunch of stones up to say like, hey, when you forget my faithfulness, look back at this tower of stones that you built and remember that I provided, that I made a way. And it's like, it's gotta remember and I'm too forgetful. So good, so good for you. Yeah, yeah. No, that's it, yeah. Even the simplest things too. That's it, yeah, yeah. I was just saying that I'm reminded of a few weeks ago, like we were going to a baseball game and I'm like, God, I just want a good parking spot. Like I don't wanna have to walk from however far away, and I literally got like pretty much the closest on street parking you could possibly get.

And it's like remembering, but then acknowledging him even in those small things, man. Yeah, every moment, yeah. That's good. So hey, maybe you're in the middle of a waiting and there's something that hasn't fulfilled yet. Take some time today to remember God's faithfulness and know that he will be faithful to you in the thing you're waiting for.