Day 29 – Genesis 48-50

Talking Points

• Jacob, preparing to die, recounts his life. He tells of days of sorrow and days of God’s great faithfulness. He speaks of the exceeding kindness God has shown him — more than could be expected. Funny how reviewing God’s dealings with him point to God’s great grace!
• Jacob assembles his sons and blesses them. He tells Judah that his lineage will reign until “Shiloh” comes. Shiloh means “the peaceful one” and refers to the Messiah. Imagine, Jacob reports the line of Judah will produce a king until it produces the final King — Jesus! Wow!
• As Jacob gives his blessing to his sons, he says, “And may my name live on in them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac” (48:16). I thought about how today, we still hear people pray to the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
• God is first referred to as a Shepherd. I love this title! What an amazing God who would, Himself, shepherd His people.
• Jacob asks to be buried in Canaan, in the cave of Abraham, where his parents and Leah are already buried. The phrase “gathered to my people” is used for the second time in the Bible, showing the belief that those who had died still existed (49:33).
• After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers think that he will then seek his revenge on them. This probably reveals much about their hearts — guilt and maybe still some resentment? To this, Joseph responds:
  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many alive” (50:20).
• What a great perspective on an even greater truth — ALL of God’s plans are steeped in love and grace! He truly desires to preserve many alive!

Thoughts

Do you know people that, as they get on in years, seem to be full of regret and disappointment in how things have turned out? Do you hear bitterness, resentment, and blame in the stories they tell of their lives? Today, as we read of Jacob’s last days, we find the opposite. He has walked through tough days, yes. But — he is ever so sure of the goodness and blessing of God. What is the difference? Even more important — how do we walk with that same perspective now?

I have decided that everything we face, every circumstance we wade through, literally everything is shaped by the lens that we look through. As believers, we have the assurance now that Jacob came to at the end of his life — God is faithful. Looking back, Jacob could see God was always totally faithful. In his last days, this truth filled him with joy. The good news we have today, is that Jacob’s end-of-life perspective can be our daily perspective! Today, whatever we face, wherever we are, we can be joyfully confident — God is in control, and He is oh, so faithful! May that perspective be the lens we look through daily.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changes not; Thy compassions they fail not.
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
– written in 1923