This is all quite a feat considering I moved halfway across the country right in the middle of that nine month study. Genesis followed me from Missouri where I was a homeless wanderer, to Georgia where I am a temporary resident, because BSF happens to meet in both cities.
When it began last September, I was living in a tiny bedroom with my three kids in my parent's house. My clothes were in underbed storage, my toiletries in a little basket in the laundry room. Nearly everything I owned was in storage. I was a nomad, waiting for the Army to give me back my husband and tell me where I would get to live next.
About halfway through, when Abraham was being told to pack up his family and leave for an unknown destination, I was packing up my family and leaving. I had never stepped foot in the state of Georgia before. I had never laid eyes on the house that would be mine. All we had was a street address and a trip on the GPS that said we would arrive in 18 hours, or about 1,000 miles.
When my study ends this Wednesday, I will be in my own house again. I actually have a walk-in closet for my clothes. My kids each have their own room--something they've never had. My house is twice the square footage of the one we sold in my old life. I love it. All those months of waiting seem to be paying off.
It paid off for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph too. Genesis ends with a great climax. Joseph has been redeemed, he's at the height of power and prestige, he gets to be there with his father, Jacob, who is on his deathbed. All the pain, and toil, and terrible screw ups are resolved. They have made sense of it all. Life is good. Finally. God is good. It's a great moment where you can really see how God has been working all along. If you've gotten sucked into the drama of this family over the previous 49 chapters, and come to love the main characters and root for the underdogs, you just want to stand up and cheer at the end of this final act, begging for an encore.
And there is one. At the ripe old age of 110, Joseph uses his precious last moments to make one final request of his brothers. "When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you" Genesis 50:25. Since my life has been one giant, painfully obvious metaphor up to this point, I have to wonder...how is God speaking to me through this ending?
I think He wants me to know that Joseph never considered himself as "having arrived." Life was good, yes. They had the favor of Pharoah, they had food, and land, and sheep, and more kids than they could count. But they were being told by Joseph, "Don't get comfortable. This isn't the end. It's not what you were meant for."
I guess I'm not home yet. Not just because my house is owned by the government (which it is) or because I have to pack up and move when they tell me to (which I do). But because God has something better in mind for me, just like He did for the patriarchs.
How much more exciting is that than a walk-in closet or a ton of square footage?
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I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please comment if you feel led and I will do my best to answer it. -R