Revival
Genesis 45:25-46:7
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” 46:1 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied. 3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” 5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
Joseph indeed had the wherewithal to give them a heads-up in the verse just before our passage: “Don’t quarrel on the way.” He knew what would be going through their heads:
“You tell him.”
“No, you tell him.”
“You agreed to the deal with the Ishmaelites.”
“You’re the one who wanted to stick him in a cistern.”
These sons have lived many years under the shadow of a lie, in the trying desperate plight of a famine and in the loving but ultimately melancholy care of their father.
Note to readers - when you’ve got to admit to a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad lie, having earth-shattering news of gladness to share alongside the lie sure helps to ease the tension.
Maybe there’s something instructive to us here in the brothers’ M.O. Genesis just says, “They told him . . .” No beating around the bush or sugar-coating the conversation. “They told him.” Full straight honest truth. They get to Canaan and simply tell it like it is. Just be direct and straightforward, not couching truth in eloquence or coating it in flattery. Just tell the truth.
The receiver of their message is perhaps a shell of his former shelf. Maybe Jacob’s not lived in utter sadness for decades, but it’s safe to say that his life has been lived in muted tones after news of Joseph’s death, rather than the technicolor brilliance of a glad and happy existence. He’s grieved a son that he dearly loved.
When the brothers tell him that the son he dearly loved, the one he’s shed many tears for is actually alive and thriving, we get a line in the narrative that should make us nod our heads in wonder:
“But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.”
This is the God that we serve. He doesn’t normally bring children back from the other side of the grave, as it must have seemed to Jacob, but our God is one who loves to astonish us with his goodness, in ways that we don’t expect.
Maybe God won’t answer your long-suffering, fervent prayers - the ones you’ve prayed so many times that you know them by heart - in the exact way that you’d like, but doesn’t it bring a level of contentment and blissful welcome palpable hope to read this story and discover anew that this is the God we serve? One who is the author of gleeful astonishment. One that loves to hatch unsuspecting and wide-eyed surprise on his children. One that splits the sea when we’re up against a hopeless wall of certain demise.
Our God is the God of revival. He’s the God of resurrection. Resurrecting hearts and lives mired in doubt and depression and defeat.
Where do you need to be surprised by God? What areas of your life, filled with doubt and chronic pessimism, need an influx of joy? Where have you toiled in sadness and melancholy?
Maybe it’s the wayward child who no longer goes to church?
Maybe it’s the way unmet expectations continue to line the road you walk?
Maybe it’s financial woes.
Maybe it’s continued disappointment.
Maybe it’s the web of bitterness and resentment that you’re so tied up in that you just can’t extricate yourself from.
The revival of one’s spirit is a beautiful thing to see. And to experience. For Jacob, revival meant the seemingly unthinkable: picking up and moving across the known world at a ripe old age to see his son, which he likely did with a new-found spring in his step.
Doesn’t hearing this story make you want to hope and pay ferocious attention to how God’s at work around you? Or maybe simply hearing this story of revival and being reminded of the nature of our God - who is always utterly for us - is fuel enough for the next phase of the journey.