Genesis 48
48 Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty[a] appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me4 and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and 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.’
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan,[b] to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”
9 “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”
10 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.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”
12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 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. 14 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.
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 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
on the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day and said,
“In your[c] name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you[d] and take you[e] back to the land of your[f] fathers. 22 And to you I give one more ridge of land[g] than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
Do you ever look at how people are living their lives and the choices that they are making and think, ‘that’s not how I would have done that!’ Some people feel like it’s their responsibility to tell people when they are making bad decisions but for the most of us, we just leave them to it. They are entitled to make the decisions that they want to for their lives. We are not responsible for them… unless their decisions affect us and then we can be very quick to stand up for our rights and what we want to happen.
Every day God is making decisions about what he wants to see happen in the world. He is moving people and blessing some. It is easy to look at what he is doing and think, ‘that’s not how I would have done that!’ I would not have blessed that person. I would have stepped into that situation and healed that person. I would have done it differently. However, this world and everything in it belongs to God and he is entitled to bless who he chooses. For most of the time we are happy to leave God to do what he wants… unless his decisions are about us.
The Bible says that the Earth and everything in it belong to the Lord. We are his and he moves us and blesses us as he chooses. He longs to hear from us as he is our loving father and he wants the best for us but he does not always do what we want him to. He is sovereign. He gives us some gifts but not others. He blesses us in some ways but not in others. He leads us and guides us but not always how and where we want him to. Sometimes we can look at what he is doing with others and wish that he would swap hands with us. Perhaps we even feel like we merit greater blessings than we are receiving. We deserve more. However, God does not see the world as we do and he blesses who he chooses. He is sovereign.
There is an incredible serenity that comes when you remember that God is almighty and you choose to be content with what he has given to you. It may not always be the path that you want but as we used to say in church, God is good… all the time. Trust him and honour him with your life and he will shine upon you.
Let us aspire to be people who do not love our own will. Rather, be like Jesus who said, ‘I have not come to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.’ (John 6:38). What feels best for you may not be what is best for the world around you. Self-satisfaction does not lead to self-fulfilment.
