God's Ways Are Not Always Our Ways

Genesis 48:17-19 -  Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.  And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”  But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

Joseph had taken his sons to see their grandfather before he died.   He knew that Jacob would bless them while they were there…so he placed the older one closest to the hand he knew was meant for the richer blessing…for Jacob’s eyes were not working well either.  But Jacob switched his hands as he blessed them…giving the youngest one the richer blessing.  Joseph protested…correcting his father.  But Jacob told him that this was the correct thing to do. So Joseph had to accept his father’s dying wishes…even though he did not understand the reason.

And so it is with our father God sometimes.  We can try to manipulate the things around us to work the way we think they should be...but God sometimes has other plans.  God doesn’t work with a set of rules that dictates how things are done.  God used his servant Jacob….full of God’s spirit at his death…to let Joseph know that the younger son would be greater….continuing the promise of God to Abraham.

It was the spirit of truth that John speaks of in John 16:13 that helped Jacob know exactly what to do.  It says… “When the spirit of truth comes…it will guide you into all truth….for he will not speak on his own authority…but whatever he hears he will speak…and he will declare to you the things that are to come. Joseph must have sensed it too…for he did not argue with his father…he simply accepted what he said.

I admit that I do not take enough time to check my actions and words with God many times before I act. I let the circumstances before me dictate the way that I feel and the choices I make most of the time. I needed the reminder that God doesn’t always work the way we think he will…but God always works things for the best good of those who love him. I need to stop more often to ask him what to do…and how to do it.

Father…thank you for the reminder that you work in ways we do not always think are the best.  Forgive me for the times that I have tried to manipulate things into what I want….without asking what you want first.  Help me to discern your will in all things that I do…and accept it as good…even if it seems wrong to me at the moment. Amen.