Genesis 47:9-10 - And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days
of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty
years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have
not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of
their pilgrimage.” So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went
out from before Pharaoh.
Joseph had taken his father to meet the Pharaoh…and to
request land for them to live on and keep the large flocks they brought with
them. Pharaoh was generous to Joseph’s family….allowing them to settle and live
in the choicest of the Egyptian land of Goshen. So Jacob blessed Pharaoh before
they left to go home.
Blessings were a big deal in Jacob’s family. It wasn’t just a saying with no meaning…Jacob
intended for God to truly make the Pharaoh’s life full and favored. It was a
verbal prayer that had the power of God to bestow good things …success…the full
favor of God on all they did.
Blessings sometimes come in a pretty package …or beautiful
home …or an abundance of money…but blessings can also come disguised as something
we first see as sad or unwanted. Joseph
probably saw no blessings in being sold into slavery…until God had completed
his full plan and arranged for him to be in charge of all the grain during the
famine. Jacob probably saw the negative aspects of moving to Egypt…but God reassured
him that this was the right thing to do at the time.
I am coming to understand the concept of blessings that seem
negative at the onset. The loss of my second husband was by far the hardest…most
tragic thing that has happened in my life to date. But as time separates my heart from the initial
blow of losing his love…I can see pieces of God’s plan to bless my life through
the tragedy.
One of my favorite songs is Laura Story’s Blessings…it helps
to remind me that God uses every moment of our lives to help us draw closer to
him. She placed in my heart a mind blowing question…What if trials of this life
are your mercies in disguise? Jesus death on the cross…a seemingly horrible
death…produced mercy for all who believe.
No greater love was exposed that day that he gave his life.
Father…thank you for the reminder that your blessings come
in packages that we don’t always recognize as good. Forgive me for the times
that I pass by the packages that I don’t think look good to me…or forget to
thank you for the storms of life that bring me to know you on a deeper
level. Amen.
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