Daily Lectionary:
Morning: Psalm 150:1-6
Genesis 48:8-22
Romans 8:11-25
John 6:27-40
Evening: Psalm 32:1-11
Second Sunday in Lent Lectionary:
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121:1-8
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
In Genesis 48 we read the account of Jacob blessing Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph lines them up 'properly' so that Jacob's right hand will rest on Manasseh and his left on Ephraim. But Jacob crosses his hands to give Ephraim (the younger son) the greater blessing. Joseph protests, but Jacob insists - Ephraim is the greater and thus should receive the greater blessing.
Interesting that Jacob, who practiced deception to gain the blessing of the first born, is ready to freely bestow his patriarchal blessing in a counter intuitive way. It looks like he learned some things about God and His ways during his long life.
God delights in working with unexpected people or through unexpected means. He loves barren women (Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth...), younger sons (Jacob, David), outcasts, and very unlikely heros (Gideon). His ways are certainly not our ways.
So... if it appears that God is leading in a direction that doesn't seem to make sense, maybe that's not a bad thing. Glory belongs to God alone, and it could be that the road He leads you down is the one designed to make it clear that He's the Author of the story as well as the Protagonist.
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