Today's Reading: Jeremiah 22-23; Titus 1
Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?" And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. Genesis 47:7-10
Joseph brought his family to Egypt and introduced his father to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the head guy…he is the President, the Commander in Chief, the main man. In contrast, Jacob is a wanderer, a sojourner, the father of shepherds and a very old man who had to leave his homeland because he and his family would have died of starvation from the famine. But why do the Scriptures say two times: “Jacob blessed Pharaoh?” How does that happen? How does the empty bless the full? How does the lesser bless the greater? How does the poor possess more than the rich? How does the average overrule the superior? The answer—GOD.
God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God reveals His will and His blessings to the childlike. God empowers everyday people to fulfill abundant promises without money, without power and without titles. The prayers and praises of the saints have higher ratings and rewards than the most powerful, self-sufficient people on earth.
We have our logic all mixed up down here. If we really understood the ways of the Lord, we would not be held down by difficulty nor be lifted up with pride. When we fix our eyes on the things that matter, we understand that Jacob’s “evil” years of pilgrimage have an eternal value that weighs more than this nameless Pharaoh who lived a life of luxury on earth.
Do you bless others? You are a child of God, just like Jacob. Jacob blessed Pharaoh because of Jacob’s position in the heavens. He blessed Pharaoh because Jacob knew what being blessed really meant. Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and today his life still blesses me. Jacob has done more for me than Pharaoh because Jacob’s family brought to us the greatest blessing of all—Jesus.
When we really know Jesus, we truly understand what it is to be blessed so that we can freely bless others. Ask the Lord to use you to bless someone today.
