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
seems 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 sees the years of his
life: conspiring with his mother to get his brother’s blessing, 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 (himself 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 of Egypt.
What a life! There was good and there was bad. There had
been things that brought him shame and some that 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.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
What are you fretting about
today? Could these be the very threads God is weaving into a beautiful tapestry
for tomorrow?
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