Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. (Genesis 47:31)I can envision this old man (even though some might say he seemed young for 130), full of years and full of life, looking out over the land of Goshen, but not seeing the fields or the sheep. He was seeing the years of his life - conspiring with his mother to get his brother's blessing, the twenty years working for his Uncle Laban, wrestling with God (at this point he automatically and without thinking reaches down to massage his hip), his reunion with Esau, the death of his sweetheart Rachel, the loss of his son Joseph; Jacob - an accomplished deceiver - now deceived by his sons, the famine, his astonishment at hearing Joseph was alive, and then seeing him once again, second-in-command over all Egypt.
What a life! There was good and there was bad. There had been things that brought him shame and some that had brought him honor. There were times God's will was accomplished in his life, not in cooperation with Jacob, but in spite of Jacob. It was like a tapestry being woven from the day of his birth, some of the threads beautiful, and some ugly. Only now, in looking back, was he able to see the hand of his God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and yes, the God of Jacob.
Could the things you fret about today actually be revealed as threads of a beautiful tapestry tomorrow?
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