Don't Bury me in Egypt

We made it.. Today we finish up 2 weeks in Genesis and we survived the first 2 weeks of 2026... Time is already flying by. And I wanna know how your year has begun..The good, The bad and The inbetween..

    So typically I'm a day ahead. I pre-read and write the next days devotion, most days..But last night I read, and then read again...and then wrote and rewrote again...and no matter how I wrapped up these last two weeks in Genesis I wasn't happy. I just kept saying, nope, that's not it. So I slept on it..and when I woke up this morning I heard loud and clear...

               🌟 Don't Bury me in Egypt! 🌟 

   Those were some of Joseph's last words. His last request. Why? He made them promise not to bury him there and that when they left Egypt that they would take his bones with them. They're just bones... His Spirit isn't in them. But it was so much more than that. Even in death he was holding to the promise of God.

    And even deeper than that he knew what it felt like to be in exile. He knew what is was to be displaced and forgotten and he knew how easy it would be to give in to temporary provision and forget the promises of God. He didn't want that for his People. He knew and he believed that God would lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the promise land. That's why he said "when" not "if" you leave Egypt. He needed the people to remember that Egypt was not their final resting place as it was not his.

    Joseph was saying, Don’t let comfort turn into complacency. Don't let provision replace the promise. And maybe some of us need to hear that today...

   There are things God uses to carry us through a season but they aren"t meant to carry us forever. Jobs, roles, habits, mindsets, even survival patterns. They kept us alive. They kept us standing. But they were never meant to be our final resting place.

    Joseph didn't live to see the exodus. But he believed in it enough to plan for it. He made them promise that when God moved...when, not if...they would carry his bones with them.

    So as we step into Exodus, maybe the question isn't just, "God, set me free."but also, "What have I allowed myself to settle in that was never meant to be home?"

So Don't allow yourself to be buried in Egypt.

Don't mark this season as the end.

Don't settle where God only meant to sustain you.

The Exodus is coming.

And God is still leading His people out.

Love Pastor Mandy

Ark of Hope Ministry 

Daily reading Genesis 47-50