It was the right decision, but it wasn’t an easy decision. For, even though it was the right decision, it was the wrong direction.

This was not the first time famine had forced the hand of his family. Both Abraham, his grandfather, and Isaac, his dad, had known what it was to wrestle with what to do when the cupboard was bare and the ground was as hard as dried out clay. But a precedent had been set, the message of his God had been clear to his father, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you” (Gen. 26:1-3). Don’t go down to Egypt.

But here he was, packing up and heading south. Not because he had cried, “Uncle,” to the famine’s force, but because he had been invited by his son. The son who he thought had perished. The son who was now the Number Two of Egypt. The son who managed the world’s food source. It was that son who had sent for his father. Like I said, right decision. But it was still the wrong direction.

And what grabs me this morning is God’s promise to Jacob.

So Israel took his journey [to Egypt] with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

(Genesis 46:1-4 ESV)

I will go down with you . . . Those are the words I’m chewing on this morning.

Yarad is the Hebrew word for “to go down.” Thus, I guess you could say that our God is Jehovah-Yarad, the God who descends, the God who goes down.

The God who, according to His providence, in order to fulfill His promises, assures of His presence — even when we find ourselves going down to Egypt.

And not just when going down is the right decision. He is still Jehovah-Yarad when we decide to head back into the world we were delivered from for less than the right reasons. Idolatrous reasons. Covetous reasons. Lustful reasons. Even then, the God of steadfast love and boundless mercy purposes, “I myself will go down with you.”

We know this because God sent His Son to go down. His Son would be called Immanuel, “God with Us” (Mt. 1:23). “For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His privileges as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man” (Php. 2:6-7 Phillips Translation).

Jesus went down so that He might be a faithful high priest, able to sympathize with our weaknesses and wanderings — yet without sin (Heb. 4:14-15). He went down so that, as our Advocate, He could always make intercession for us thus saving us to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). He went down, so that after He was raised up, through His Spirit He might be the Father’s agent fulfilling the Father’s promise, “I will also bring you up again.”

Hear afresh His words:

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ~ Jesus

(Matthew 28:20b ESV)

Whether in our faithfulness, or in our wanderings, He is the God who will go down with you.

So that we would know too that He is the God who will also bring you up again.

By His grace. For His glory.