"God bless you!" when someone sneezes! Well, here is a story about blessings – and not too
much at all about sneezing! So where were we? Oh yeah, back in Egypt! At last, the 7 long years of famine were over. The rains started to fall. The crops began to grow. And Jacob and his family settled into their new home
in the Land of Goshen. And God blessed them. Their crops grew abundantly. And their families grew abundantly too! They became rich in every way. Jacob lived 17 years in the Land of Goshen, until he
was 147 years old. That is old! And what happens when things get old? They start to
wear out, that's what! And that's what happened to Jacob. His eyes were going bad. His legs
were getting weak. Until finally, he didn't even have the strength to get out
of bed. Jacob knew his time on earth was almost over. And so he sent for his son Joseph. |
...that his father had called for him,
he left his home and traveled to the land of Goshen. When he entered his
Father's tent, Jacob said, "Joseph, Is that you?" "Yes, Father," Joseph said. "Come here by my bed. I want you to make a solemn promise to me. "Promise me that when I die you won't bury me here in
Egypt. Promise me that you will bury me in the land of my fathers." Jacob
wanted to make sure he was buried in the land that God had promised his family. "I promise," Joseph said. So Jacob made Joseph make a solemn vow. Joseph
promised that Jacob would be buried in the land of his father Isaac, and
Isaac's father Abraham. |
...and Jacob was getting weaker and weaker. One day a message came to Joseph that his father was
sick and close to dying. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and his younger
brother Ephraim, and traveled to see his father once again. Jacob was lying in his tent with his eyes closed. His
body was tired and worn out from a long, long life. But when he heard Joseph
and his sons coming, he used all his strength to pull himself up in his bed. "Joseph, is that you?" "Yes, Father." "Come closer!" Jacob said, holding out his bent and
bony hands. "When I was younger, the Lord God Almighty appeared to
me at Luz. This was in the land of Canaan, and the Lord blessed me there. The
Lord said to me, 'I will give you many children, and they will have many
children, and they will have many children, and from them will come many
nations. I will give this land to them, and it will be their land forever.' " And then Jacob said in his trembling, old voice,
"Joseph, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt – from
now on I will call them my sons. They will be my sons just as Rueben and Simeon
are my sons. And they will share in my heritance just as they will. (And that's why Ephraim and Manasseh will each become one of the 12 tribes of Israel... but we will get to that later!) "Joseph, I am doing this because I loved your mother Rachel so much! "She died in the land of Canaan, and I buried her
there, beside the road to Ephrath (The little town that became known as
Bethlehem. That little town is going to become very famous one day! You might
have even heard of it already!). Now, Jacob could barely see the shapes of two boys
standing there. "Joseph," Jacob said, pointing to the two shapes, "Who
are these boys?" "They are my sons!" Joseph said, "The sons God has
blessed me with here in the land of Egypt." Then Jacob said, "Bring them here so that I may bless
them." Joseph brought his sons to their grandfather, and
Jacob wrapped his arms around them and hugged them as hard as he could. His
eyes filled with tears. "Joseph, many, many years ago your brothers told me
that you had been killed by a wild animal. I thought that I would never see you again – – and now here you are! "God has truly blessed me! "And now God has blessed me even more – God has
let me see your children!" Joseph bowed to the ground before his father. And then
he had his two sons kneel at the foot of Jacob's bed so Jacob could bless them.
Now, in the time of Jacob, a father's blessing was a
special and important thing. When a father blessed his children, he was saying,
"God is with us!" He was saying, "We are a family that lives under God's care and protection." And the wonderful thing is that God wants to bless us! It's just who God is! All of life is a blessing from God! Well, just think of it. God could have given us
crackers and water to eat, and called it good. But no! God gives us bananas and
grapes and figs and pineapples, carrots and broccoli and spinach – chocolate! And ice
cream and cookies and a million other good things to eat! God could have made a flower or two, maybe a dandelion
and a skunk cabbage, and called it good. But no! God made roses and daffodils
and shooting stars and columbine and a thousand different kinds of flowers
– and he scatters them everywhere! God could have put a few stars in the sky and called
it good. That would be nice. But no! God put BILLIONS and BILLIONS of stars in
the sky for us! That's
how much God wants to bless us! God is so good!
So when a father gave his children his blessing he was
putting them under God's care, like putting them under a blanket of God's protection. He knew that if they live the way God wants them
to live – if they walk in his ways – God will bring them goodness
and joy, and a rich and happy life. Not that they will never have any troubles. Troubles
are a part of life too. But when hard times come, God will be with them and see
them through. One day one of the writers of the Psalms will say, "Even when I walk through dark and scary places, I
will not be afraid because I know that God is with me!" Well, just look at the troubles God brought Jacob and
Joseph through! (That was Psalm 23 – but it won't be written for
quite few years yet! Well, quite a few years after the time of Jacob and his
family, that is!) Now in those days, when a father died everything he
owned was divided among his children. But the oldest son received twice as much
as the others. That was called the Birthright. When a father died the oldest son became
the head of the family. It was his job to keep the family living under God's care and
protection. So Joseph put Manasseh at Jacob's right hand, to
receive the blessing of the oldest son, and Ephraim at his left hand. But Jacob crossed his hands – and put his right
hand on Ephraim, even though he was the younger son, and his left hand on
Manasseh! And then Jacob blessed them and said, "May God bless these boys, just as God
blessed my father Isaac, and his father Abraham! May God, who has brought me here to
this very day, bless them! May the angel who watched over me in
times of trouble, bless them! May my name be remembered in them just
like we remember my father Isaac, and we remember his father Abraham. May they have many children! And may
their children have many children, and may their children have many children.
May they become a great nation!" But Joseph was upset when he saw that Jacob had put
his right hand on Ephraim, the younger son. "No! Not that way, father!" Joseph said, "You put your
right hand on Ephraim! But Manasseh is the oldest! Put your right hand on him!" But Jacob said, "I know, my son, I know! A great
nation will come from Manasseh, but a greater one will come from Ephraim!" If
you remember, Jacob received his father Isaac's blessing instead of Esau, even
though Esau was the oldest too! So Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. He said, "One
day our people will say, 'May The Lord
bless you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' " And then he said to Joseph, "I am ready to die, but
God is with you. God will take you back to the land of my father Isaac and his
father Abraham." And so Jacob blessed Joseph and his sons that day. |
...all good things – like ice cream
sundaes, and sunny days, and even your brothers and sisters – are
blessings from God! Ice cream sundaes, and sunny days, and long life are
wonderful things, but the best thing is that they are gifts from God. That's
really where the happiness comes from! They let us know that God is with us and
that God loves us. Sundaes melt, storms come, and life comes to an end –
but God's love never ends. Live each and every day with God. Live each day in God's blessings. Live each day in God's love! So here is a blessing for you! |