SCRIPTURE: Genesis 47
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children. [Genesis 47:10-11]
Jacob blesses Pharoah; Joseph is a blessing to all of Egypt.
And Jacob and his family are blessed in Egypt through the famine.
And the blessing goes round and round, a fulfillment of God’s vision and purpose.
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. [Genesis 12:2-3]
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [Luke 6:27-28]
To be a blessing is not something we do just to those who deserve it.
If we knew all that the Pharoah and Egypt were guilty of, of the horrible injustices and abuses that were common among all peoples and rulers, especially the powerful ones, we might hesitate to bless Pharoah.
Yet the way of Jesus is the way of blessing, even to those who do not deserve it.
This is God’s vision and purpose, to raise up a people that fill the world spreading His love and mercy and blessing, whether people deserve it or not.
God is responsible for the final judgment, and He will be just and fair in it all.
But we are responsible for revealing God in all His glory and goodness, to be Good News to a world that is flooded with Bad News.
We do not deny God’s judgment, we do not deny God’s moral law, we do not deny God’s anger at sin and injustice, but we do not deal with it as the world does.
We are not overcome by evil, but we overcome evil with good [Romans 12:17-21]
This is our calling as followers of Jesus Christ, and children of Abraham.
We are called to live in the world, but not be like the world.
We are called to be a light, a model, of justice and mercy and kindness and morality.
Ours is not to judge the nations, but to bless the nations.
This will come at a price, since the world will not always welcome it.
Ask Jesus, ask the Israelites that were in Egypt after Joseph died.
But no matter how the world responds, our calling is the same.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. [1 Peter 3:9]
And the blessing goes round and round, a fulfillment of God’s vision and purpose.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to see where I can be a blessing today, so that others may experience Your goodness through me.