Acts 7:1-51 \/ 8b-9\u00a0<\/b>Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.\u00a0 \u201cBecause the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,\u00a0they sold him as a slave into Egypt.\u00a0But God was with him10\u00a0and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cLater Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.<\/i>\u201d God is faithful.\u00a0 When it was beyond worldly belief, God kept His promises to Abraham.\u00a0 After his father died and Abraham left Harran he was seventy-five years old. There are not many seventy-five years olds fathering children.\u00a0 Still, Abraham faithfully believed God would keep His promise and so he did not quit at Harran but continued on to receive the promises of God. Even though many believe that Abraham should not have stopped in Harran to bury his father (perhaps [squeezed] from\u00a0Matthew 8:21-22<\/b>), still Abraham showed continued faith that God would do what He had promised.\u00a0 Family, God is faithful even when we are weak (2 Timothy 2:13<\/b>) because if we understand who God is, His righteousness, goodness and justness, we know that God cannot be anything but faithful.\u00a0 If God were to be unfaithful He would be turning, He would be changing from who He is.\u00a0 But we know that God does not change (Malachi 3:6<\/b>).\u00a0 If God ever changed than He would not be the God whom we know Him to be.\u00a0 God changing would be a great cause for fear because that would mean that if He changed in any way that He might change in every way and that would include being the loving, merciful and gracious God that He is. No, God does not change and part of what we draw from that is that He is always faithful to what He promises.\u00a0 If God promised it then He will do it.\u00a0 Without exception.\u00a0 Every single time.\u00a0 So Abraham did father Isaac at the seemingly impossible age of one hundred years and Sarah did give birth to Isaac when she was ninety years old.\u00a0 Impossible?\u00a0 Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37<\/b>).\u00a0 God is faithful beyond understanding or physical laws, praise God!<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cBecause the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,\u00a0they sold him as a slave into Egypt.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Stephen illustrated that nothing is impossible when God is involved, even seemingly natural rules of our bodies, such as the normal age of a husband and wife conceiving and giving birth to a baby.\u00a0 Stephen now gives an example that men cannot stop the promises of God.\u00a0 Jacob loved Joseph more than the rest of His sons because Joseph was born to Jacob when Jacob was of an old age (Genesis 37:3<\/b>).\u00a0 We know that is true because the Word states it.\u00a0 Yet certainly there was more reason than age.\u00a0 If age were the only factor than Joseph\u2019s younger brother Benjamin would logically have been his favorite.\u00a0 Another reason that Jacob loved Joseph so much was that he was born to his beloved Rachel, his favorite wife.\u00a0 Yet, again, Benjamin was also born to Rachel.\u00a0 Rachel was whom Jacob first fell in love with.\u00a0 Rachel\u2019s father Laban had promised her hand to Jacob in return for seven years of labor.\u00a0 Laban then cheated Jacob and substituted Leah (Rachel\u2019s older sister) for Rachel.\u00a0 Jacob, who greatly loved Rachel, was required by Laban to work for another seven years before he would give Rachel to him.\u00a0 So Jacob gave fourteen years of labor to have Rachel as His wife.\u00a0 Rachel was the love of His life.\u00a0 So we know that Joseph being born of Rachel was another part of the reason that He loved Joseph more than the rest of his sons.\u00a0 However, if being born to Rachel, and being born late in Jacob\u2019s life were the sole factors of being Jacob\u2019s favorite, then Benjamin would have been his favorite.\u00a0 Of course we know the custom that the eldest male born would gain the full inheritance and be the favorite.\u00a0 However that custom has not held up in the Bible and if that were the sole factor, then Reuben, the eldest son of Abraham, son of Leah, would have been his favorite, but Joseph was.\u00a0 Family, our all-knowing God who has known all things from eternity past knew who was best suited to fulfill His plans as the descendant of Jacob.\u00a0 He knew how Israel would be provided for and protected and which of Jacobs\u2019s sons would be most suited to do the will of God and so keep the promise of God to Abraham.\u00a0 God is the one who grants favor. God is the one who places people in position.\u00a0 Why did Joseph have Jacob\u2019s favor?\u00a0 Because it was God\u2019s will.\u00a0 God steered Jacob\u2019s heart.\u00a0 Family, it is our all-knowing God who grants favor.<\/p>\n
We should not wonder about our position, or be jealous of the position of another, but rather faithfully know that God knows our position and has prepared and gifted us for it, as He prepared Joseph for all he was called to do. \u00a0The person who seems to be in an elevated position is prepared by God for it.\u00a0 And we are prepared and gifted by God for where we are.\u00a0 Neither the one who seems to be elevated nor are us meant for the other\u2019s position.\u00a0 Not that positions don\u2019t change.\u00a0 Besides, is God working through one person more highly valued than God working through another?\u00a0 No, God working through any of us in any way is to be treasured and valued.\u00a0 And who of us is to say who is in a position to better serve the will of God.\u00a0 Let us be humble and let God be the one who exalts (Matthew 23:12<\/b>).\u00a0 After all, He is never wrong. Praise God!<\/p>\n
We see in Stephen\u2019s defense of the Jesus that God is forever faithful.\u00a0 God was faithful to Abraham during his life.\u00a0 God was faithful to Abraham as He watched over and guided his descendants.\u00a0 God is still faithful to Abraham as His eyes are today on Israel.\u00a0 In the book of Revelation we see that God remains faithful to Abraham and they receive Jesus their Messiah.\u00a0 God is also faithful to us.\u00a0 Jesus died for the Apostles and loved them, and also died for us and loved us (John 17:20<\/b>).\u00a0 As God has been and is faithful to Abraham and to His descendants, so He has been and is faithful to all who love and honor His Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.\u00a0 God was faithful to Jesus and remains faithful to Jesus.\u00a0 None shall live with God forever except those who belong to Jesus.\u00a0 None! (Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5<\/b>) If that were not so, then God would do Himself evil and He cannot do that because there is no evil in Him.\u00a0 And God cannot be unfaithful to us without being unfaithful to Himself.\u00a0 So when we want to call what happens to us wrong, or evil, or bad, let us first consider who truly knows what is wrong, or evil or bad and ask ourselves if we really want to accuse God of being slack or of being unfaithful.\u00a0 God forbid that any of us should do so!\u00a0 Rather let us live in faith in the goodness of God.\u00a0 Let us live a life of praising and not doubting Him.\u00a0 Family, let us shout praises to God!\u00a0 Praise our God!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 7:1-51 \/ 8b-9\u00a0Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.\u00a0 \u201cBecause the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,\u00a0they sold him as a slave into Egypt.\u00a0But God was with him10\u00a0and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1865,100,2472,101,94,17,2036],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-genesis","tag-john","tag-malachi","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-timothy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1503,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}