Genesis 47

And the days of Israel to die drew near. And he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found grace in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers. You shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do according to your words.
(Gen 47:29-30)

Here we see a totally different Jacob than the one we started with, the one of old, the one that earned the name.

He used to be:
the dirty-rotten-sneaky-thief.
The Conniver.
The Con Man.
The Usurper.

Now He is:
Israel.
The One Governed by God.
The Prince of the Almighty.
The one who Prevails with God.

The man that once depended completely upon his own wit and wisdom, is now exercising true FAITH! This simple request demonstrates that he had finally come to a place of rest in the Lord. No longer was he attempting to make things happen, he was trusting the Lord to fulfill HIS promises. DO NOT BURY ME IN EGYPT. This is not our final resting place, nor is it the place where our nation will be. We will one day inherit the land God promised, and that is my home, that is where I belong. Though he couldn’t see how the return would take place, he knew God would make it happen.

What HOPE! What CONFIDENCE! What a way to encourage your family, your friends, the people around you… He was simply declaring that EGYPT was not his home… The land of promise was.

We have a promised land, and though we may not see it yet, we will soon be there. It is heaven, and the Lord has promised that there we will dwell with Him for eternity! Is your life telling people that “this is not your home”? Jacob told people that he belonged in the land of promise… are your actions communicating that your hope is in heaven?