01-25-08 Sorrow turns to hope -- Hebrews 11:21
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons ...
-- Hebrews 11:21
I often ponder the life of Jacob. He starts out conniving, getting his own way by shrewd and tough negotiation. But then everything goes against him. He is deprived of the woman he wants as his wife, and is only allowed to marry her in exchange for another seven years of servitude. Once he has her, she bears him no children, until the end. Finally, she dies with the birth of her second son. If that wasn't enough, the sons of his other wife sell the first son of the woman he loved into slavery and tell Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild animals. His daughter is raped. Famine threatens to wipe out the family. His sons go to Egypt to buy grain only for his son Simeon to be thrown into prison.
How very sad! Yet at the end of his life, God seems to say, "Come over here. Let me show you what is really going on." Simeon and Joseph are restored to him. His missing son is revealed as the savior of two nations -- the prophet and ruler that saved countless lives. Jacob, delivered from the famine, and lives to see his children's children.
It hurts every time I read of Rachel's death. I see Jacob lifting up that pillar over her grave, so helpless to get her back, not knowing what else to do.
But, in the end, his sorrow turns to hope, and his hope turns into faith. He sees the future with God's eyes. He knows his descendants will triumph over great adversity and through them all the people of the earth will be blessed.
All of us travel down paths that we would not choose. May we, like Jacob, find the treasure that eluded us, and see the future through God's eyes.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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