“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near unto me, I pray you… and they came near.”
“I beseech you therefore, brethren… that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”

Genesis 45:4, Romans 12:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Abiding is the default position of the redeemed.

Every act of faith begins with a movement—a drawing near. Before blessing, before provision, before revelation, there is always the quiet verb of approach: נָגַשׁ (nagash).

Joseph, who foreshadowed Jesus, now clothed in royal power, utters a simple command to his trembling brothers: “Come near to me.” They obey, not knowing that the one they feared would soon become the channel of their preservation. In that instant, distance collapses into grace. The same verb—nagash—becomes Goshen.

To nagash is to bridge the invisible space between despair and deliverance. It is a step that reorders one’s entire being toward mercy. Whenever we are tempted to ask, “What am I going to do in this situation?” and all we hear is silence, it’s because God has already spoken repeatedly in Scripture: “Come near to me…there I will provide for you!“

Do not fear, beloved child of God. Do not live as though you were without a Helper. Simply do what you have already been instructed to do repeatedly, and you too will behold the mercies of God unfold in your life. You are not waiting for God to come to you—He is waiting for you to draw near to Him.

The question has never been, “Where is God?”
It has always been, “Adam, where are you?”

Within the very word נָגַשׁ (nagash)—to draw near—is hidden the promise of גֹּשֶׁן (Goshen)—the place of provision. If you cannot yet see the provision, it is only because you have not yet stepped close enough to behold it. So draw near, beloved, and behold the bounty of the inner circle!

WORD FOCUS

• נָגַשׁ (nagash)—“to draw near” is an anagram for גֹּשֶׁן (Goshen)—“the place of provision.”
  
• Approach becomes (is) provision since they are one and the same thing.

PRAYER

O Loving God,
teach me the holy art of nearness.
When I am tempted to stand afar,
pretending to be orphaned and abandoned,
remind me to press into Goshen—
the place where fear ends and rest begins.

Let every act of obedience be my nagash,
every offering my living surrender.
Let me not feed on the crumbs of striving,
but on the abundance that flows from Your presence.
For in drawing near, I discover I was never far…

I was just not close enough to see You were there all along,
waiting for me to come into Your loving embrace.
Amen.

If I have strayed to a strange land where famine rages, I can just as easily come back Home to my Father where there is abundance for everyone.