Genesis 48:21-22

Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.” (Genesis 48:21-22)

The patriarchal blessing was important and valued in Jacob’s day. It was more than just a wishful pronouncement - it carried with it the weight of prophecy. As Jacob is about to die, what he has to say is extremely significant to Joseph and the rest of Jacob’s family. Here Jacob speaks with assurance about the presence of God with his family. When he affirms confidently, “God will be with you...,” he is speaking a word of faith. I love what Jon Courson says about this passage:

“Because Jacob was one who had lots of failings, tons of shortcomings, all sorts of problems, he was one who knew that God’s faithfulness was not dependent upon his own deservedness. Jacob was a man who knew even when he was failing and faltering, that God would be faithful, that God would come through. And he passed that assurance on to his son.” (Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament, Vol.1, P. 48)

What a gift he gave to Joseph here - absolute, Rock solid confidence that the same God who was with him his entire life - through the good, the bad, and the ugly - would continue with Jacob’s family when Jacob was gone! I am so thankful that my salvation does not depend on MY faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of the One who promised.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

I don’t know I’m saved because of what I have done, but because of what He did for me. Jesus guaranteed my salvation so that I, like Jacob, can know without a doubt where I am headed:

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

I have always loved that passage, and I have written next to it, in the margin of my Bible, “The Heavenly Handclasp.” I am not holding onto God with all my might - He is holding onto me with all of HIS might. Jesus says here that we are held in His hand and in the hand of the Father at the same time - and NO ONE can snatch us out of their hands! NO ONE!! This is the confidence we have in Him, and it’s the confidence that we must pass on to our children. THAT is the best blessing of all!

Don’t you want your children to know how faithful God has been to you throughout your life - and how? Tell them! Give them that blessing, so that when you die, they won’t need your life insurance, because they will have your eternal life assurance!

Have a great day reviewing the faithfulness of God in your life!

 

Genesis 48:5-20

When I started this chapter I mentioned that it had a lot to say about God’s choices. Because God is God, He is the one who gets to choose how He will carry out His plans. And because His ways are not our ways, He usually chooses to do things in ways we don’t expect. In this passage, Joseph has brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to pay their final respects to their grandfather, and to receive the patriarchal blessing of Jacob. We see a familiar scene played out:

Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.


Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”


Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. (Genesis 48:10-14)

Just like his own father, Isaac, Jacob now has failing eyesight in his old age, so Joseph moves his sons forward for the blessing and manipulates it so that the right hand of blessing will be on the firstborn, Manasseh, with Ephraim on the left. But Jacob crosses his arms so that the younger will receive the greater blessing. The blessing Jacob pronounces on Joseph and his sons is profound:

Then he blessed Joseph and said,


   “May the God before whom my fathers 
Abraham and Isaac walked, 
the God who has been my shepherd 
all my life to this day, 
the Angel who has delivered me from all harm —may he bless these boys. 
May they be called by my name 
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, 
and may they increase greatly upon the earth.” (vs.15-16)


Here Jacob was honoring the faithfulness of God, his Shepherd, who had faithfully cared for Jacob his entire life, the God who had continually delivered him. When he said, “May they be called by my name,” he is affirming his adoption of Joseph’s sons as his own sons, moving them up the inheritance ladder to be equals with their uncles (see verses 5-6). This would give Joseph’s family a double portion of the inheritance. By giving Ephraim the priority that would normally belong to the firstborn, Jacob is reversing what the custom of his day was. We see this reversal throughout the Bible: Isaac chosen over Ishmael, Jacob honored over Esau, David over his older brothers, Solomon over David’s other sons, etc. Beth Moore reminds us of the significance of the names of these boys in this sovereign choice of God, Manasseh meaning forget and Ephraim meaning twice fruitful:

“Manasseh’s name represented forgetting one’s troubles. Ephraim’s, on the other hand, represented fruitfulness in the midst of one’s troubles. Beloved, in God’s economy fruitfulness trumps forgetfulness every time... becoming fruitful in our troubles has far greater ramifications of blessing than forgetting our troubles... Jacob’s enduring line would not be marked by the troubles they’d forgotten. It would be marked by the faithfulness of God who remembered His covenant and made them fruitful.” (The Patriarchs, P. 229).

When we read the “roll call of faith” in chapter 11 of Hebrews, we see that this was true of all of God’s “heroes.” They were commended for the faith they exercised in the midst of their troubles - that was where the fruit came from! So, Ephraim, the younger, received the greater blessing, and they have been since remembered as “Ephraim and Manasseh” (vs. 20) rather than “Manasseh and Ephraim” (vs. 1).

More about this whole blessing thing next time!

Genesis 48:1-4 PART 2

In this chapter, as Jacob is failing and preparing to die, we see him reminding Joseph about the special encounter that Jacob had with the God of Abraham and Isaac. He was recounting his own special encounter with El Shaddai, God Almighty. I wanted to tell you about another major encounter I had with God that changed the direction of my life.

In my mid-thirties I discovered Bible Study Fellowship. I love studying the Bible, and the discipline and intense challenge of BSF was the perfect place for me. By this time I had been a Christian for about ten years and had been completely involved in children’s ministries at my church (teaching and heading up Sunday School, directing Vacation Bible School, co-directing our mid-week children’s musical program, teaching the children’s sermon during the regular worship services), and in the community (Girl Scout co-leader, on the local Girl Scout Council executive board, classroom volunteer etc.). Being with a bunch of adult women in BSF was a welcome relief! I thought I’d had enough of children’s ministries! My passion had always been teaching women in Bible study, so after my first year in BSF, I was so hoping to be called into leadership as a discussion leader.

However, the LORD had been giving me clues that He had other plans. Over a two-week period I received several calls out of the blue from people just thanking me for working with their children, telling me how much it meant to them, along with a call from one of the church elders also affirming my gift with kids. You’d think this would have encouraged me, but it actually depressed me! I began sensing that God was telling me He wanted me to continue working with kids! Aaaugghh!!

It was not my habit to listen to the radio when driving to BSF, but one morning, while on the way to pick up my buddie, Carrol, with whom I carpooled to BSF, I was listening to Focus on the Family. On this morning, there was a woman being interviewed who was talking about the impact an adult can make in the life of a child. She spoke about a male student teacher who, during her fourth grade year in school, transformed her life in his mere eight weeks in that classroom. She had been emotionally abused by her father, so when this teacher told her that he believed in her and knew that she would do great things, it actually changed the direction of her life. As I waited for Carrol to come to the car, I sat there crying for two reasons: I was so moved by her story, and I was terrified that God was calling me to continue to work with kids!!

I shared my fear with Carrol as we drove to BSF. As the other leader of our scout troop, she totally got it!  Carrol and I had daughters in Kindergarten that year, so we always sat in the back row during the BSF lecture, because we had to zip out early to pick up the girls at the busstop. The teaching leader began her lecture on the passage for that day:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

As she attempted to apply these verses to real life, the teaching leader suggested that offering ourselves as a living sacrifice means that we do what GOD wants us to do for Him, not what WE want to do for Him. She said, “For example, some of you may be thinking that you would like to have a ministry with women, but God is calling you to work with children.” Oh my gosh! From about 200 feet away in the pulpit, her words pierced my heart like a sword! Carrol and I just stared at each other with our mouths wide open!

Now, did this confirmation give me peace and joy? No! I was more depressed about it than ever. A couple of weeks later, this teaching leader called me and told me that the leaders group had been praying about me coming into leadership, and they felt I was being called to work as the assistant children’s supervisor! The only plus in my mind was that the children’s supervisor, who would be over me, was an amazing Christian woman whom I greatly admired. She asked me to pray about it, and, wanting her to think I was truly spiritual, I told her I would - even though it was already perfectly clear to me what God wanted me to do.

When I got off the phone, I felt like a black cloud was hanging over my head! I had to go to the grocery store, and there I ran into another dear, dear friend, Pam, who was a fairly new Christian whom I had been discipling. I told her how upset I was about being called to work with kids. And God spoke to me directly through her when she said, “Sally, you know what your problem is? You are not submitting to God! God has obviously gifted you to work with children, and He wants you to obey Him. I know you! You want to be up there giving the lecture, and I have no doubt that someday you will be doing that, but right now you need to obey God!” Wow! That was it! I wasn’t submitting! DUH!!!

So I did answer the call to the children’s program, and it was there that God totally transformed my mind about children’s ministries and convinced me of the absolute priority He gives to the spiritual nourishing of children. Satan is ready with so many distractions for children - and he loves to convince adults that they have no gift for helping in Sunday School. As a Sunday School director, I knew how hard it was to get anyone to volunteer even one Sunday a month to work with the children! So, that’s the roundabout way I eventually went into teaching at the age of 42! And, after 20 years, I still absolutely LOVE my job, and thank God every day for giving me the privilege of working with kids!

Oh, and, by the way, I DID eventually get to give lectures at BSF! After one year with the children, I was called to be the substitute teaching leader. So, four times a year, I did get to teach women the Bible for several years (while I finished up college and earned my teaching credential)! Isn’t God amazing?? My lesson? God knows what is best for me, and it is His good pleasure to use me as HE sees fit! I’ve learned over the years to submit quicker, because that is where the blessings lie!

Sorry about this extra long personal story! I have been convinced by Jacob that we need to tell our stories of our encounters with God to glorify Him for what He has done and for His incredible faithfulness in our lives! Back to Jacob, Joseph, et al tomorrow!  By the way, I'd love to hear YOUR stories of your own God encounters!

 

Genesis 48:1-4

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

This is the verse that greeted me today on BibleGateway.com this morning, and I thought it was perfect for this next chapter of Genesis! It reminds us that we are CHOSEN by God - for HIS purposes, not ours: that we might declare His praises because He called us out of the darkness into His WONDERFUL light! We don’t know why He chose us particularly, but we know what He chose us for.

Today’s reading in Genesis is all about God’s sovereign choice - and His way of choosing what we think would be the most unlikely (us, for instance) to receive His blessings. As the chapter opens, Joseph received word that his father was ill, so he rushed to his side with his two sons, Jacob’s grandsons, in tow so they could see their grandfather for a final time. I’m certain that Joseph also realized this would be the time to receive the patriarchal blessing of Jacob.

At this point, Jacob was frail and his strength, as well as his vision, were failing him. But when he saw his favorite son, he was reinvigorated. This was the son who brought him his greatest joy!

Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ (Gen 48:3-4)

Jacob laid the foundation for the blessing, by recounting the most important time in his life, when God met him and affirmed the covenant that he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob to bless this family with fruitfulness. As Jacob was dying, he wanted to impart the most important words of wisdom and blessing that he had to give. So he recounted the faithfulness of God in his life.

Beth Moore challenges her readers to think about your most important encounters with God, when God spoke to you in your heart something so clearly that you never forgot it. And that’s where I’m going today, in the hopes that what God has shown me over the years can be of some help to you.
I can immediately think of four specific occasions when He so clearly directed me at four critical junctures in my life. The first time was in regard to my role as a wife. I had a written list of things that I was praying for Don - things that I assumed were the “sanctified” things a wife should pray for her husband - that he would be the spiritual leader of our home, that he would start going to church regularly and attend a Bible study, and that he would lead our daughters in devotions, etc. Doesn’t that sound good??

Well, one day as I was praying over it, God showed me that my list was actually born from my desire to change my husband, and it represented a discontentment. God almost audibly told me very clearly to cross out that list and start loving Don exactly the way he was THAT DAY, because that was how God loved Him - and how He loved me, too! I took a pencil and crossed out the list and wrote in the margin of the journal, “Thank you, God, for Don just the way he is today!” Wow! That totally freed me to love Don unconditionally and to appreciate all of wonderful qualities he had as a husband and father. He may not have led devotions, but he was the most devoted husband and father I knew! The need to be my husband’s personal Holy Spirit left me that day, and it transformed our marriage.

I’ll share the others in the next few installments. . . off to work!