Unshackled Moments - August 18,2021 - God's Promises Are In His Time

Gen 37:1 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings [a short stay or residence], in the land of Canaan.

I find it interesting that in Genesis we see that Jacob or Israel lived in the land of Canaan, which was the land where his father Jacob lived “for a short time.” This was also where Abraham lived and Esau lived until the area couldn’t support both him and his brother Jacob. Most importantly, while this is not the entire area described by God to Abraham, it is in the land of promise.

Why does this matter? Perhaps it doesn’t, but I find it strikes me that this passage does not say that Jacob lived in the land of promise. In the next verses we find the story of Joseph being sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. It will be a while, a couple of decades or so, before his relatives will join him there and another 400 years before the exodus. It’s at that point we will begin to see the land of Canaan referred to as the Promise Land.

Why wasn’t it the Promise Land for Jacob? Moses wrote both Genesis and Exodus, so why the change in terminology? While from Abraham on, it was the land promised to him and his descendants, it did not become the Promise Land until God’s timing determined that the promise was to be fulfilled. In other words, the land of promise didn’t become the Promise Land until the time was right on God’s schedule.

Why does this matter to us? We may see promises of God that we believe and want to act on, but the timing is up to God, not to us. We can move into the area, even live there a while. We can position ourselves to receive and even prepare. But we can not make the promise activate on our schedule. This is not a matter of faith, but rather a matter of the purpose and providence of God’s timing.

What God has promised, He will deliver. We must not become discouraged when it doesn’t happen on our schedule. More importantly, we must not attempt to force God to adjust His timing to suit our own. Nor should we claim it as true when it is not yet true. God is not a liar, nor is He delusional. Neither should we be. We most certainly believe the promise. We should hold fast to the truth that God will fulfill His promise. We should live in eager anticipation of receiving the promise. But we can not act as though we have opened a gift that God has not given us yet, but we can look at the gift in His hand and know that it will be ours.

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