God's Blessings

Genesis 48:1-4 - After this Joseph was told, "Behold, your father is ill"; so he took with him his two sons, Manas'seh and E'phraim. And it was told to Jacob, "Your son Joseph has come to you"; then Israel summoned his strength, and sat up in bed.  And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,  and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.' 

It was customary in those days for the dying father to bestow a blessing on the oldest son. But in this passage…Jacob blesses Joseph and his two sons. I can just imagine that Jacob…knowing his time was near….called for all his sons….and Joseph just happened to be the first one to arrive. Joseph brings his two sons with him…maybe just to make sure they all had a chance to say goodbye. Joseph might have even been surprised by the words of his father….we are never told that Jacob shared this visit with God with anyone.

I wonder if Jacob remembered the time he deceived his father into a blessing. Cause the rest of the story…where he adopts Joseph’s two sons as his own…and lays hands on them…and blesses the younger one…on purpose….it is so reminiscent of Genesis 27-28…where Jacob tricked his dad.  But this time…God had spoken to Jacob…and told him who to bless…and what exact words to say to them.  God is beginning to change the way people think about rules and traditions…and helping us to understand that we must listen to him for our directions in life.  His plan is not always what the world has preconceived as proper.

Maybe the important thing in this story isn’t who Jacob blesses…but that he had completed his own journey with God…and wanted to leave his sons with more than just land and money as an inheritance.  As Jacob speaks with his son and grandsons…as he shares with them God’s plans for their future….he shows how he has changed….turned from a man of deceit and material need…to a man that is a humble sheep…shepherded by God himself. He shares with Joseph and his grandsons how important it is to remember the promises of God…and that the good things he has planned for us are worth the wait…even if our descendents are the ones to claim the inheritance.

Father…my heart is so full of thankfulness and praises for all the good things you have shown me. Help me to be more like Jacob….and search for you …and listen for your words…and be confident of the future you have planned for me.   Help me learn to be your sheep…and stay in the pasture close to you…and quit running away after he things of this world that distract me. Show me what is  right…and give me the confidence to know that it is what you have called me to do…even if it seems contrary to what the world has set as proper.  Help me to not limit my growth to my human knowledge of the world….but to open my eyes to your supernatural powers to change my life from the inside out. Amen.