Saturday, May 17, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Genesis 48-50
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 57
Key Verse
Genesis 49:19 — “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.”
Devotional Thought
Jacob is dying in Egypt, and the old shepherd of Israel gathers his strength for one last act of fatherhood. He adopts Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own, and then he does something startling: he crosses his hands. Joseph, watching carefully, tries to correct him, but Jacob refuses. He has walked with God too long to be confused about which boy should receive the greater blessing. Then Jacob calls all twelve sons to his bedside and speaks over each of them—Reuben unstable as water, Simeon and Levi divided for their cruelty, Judah promised a sceptre that will not depart until Shiloh comes, Joseph a fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall. These are not flattering speeches; they are honest words from a father who knows his sons and knows the God who has fed him all his life long. Then Jacob gathers his feet into the bed and yields up the ghost.
Joseph weeps over his father, and Egypt mourns with him for seventy days. A great company carries Jacob up to Canaan, chariots and horsemen and elders, and they bury him beside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah, in the cave at Machpelah. Only after the funeral does the old fear return to Joseph’s brothers: now that Father is gone, will Joseph finally take his revenge? They send a message, and Joseph weeps again—not because he is angry, but because they still do not understand him. “Am I in the place of God?” he asks. “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.”
Psalm 57 sings in the same key. David, hiding in a cave from Saul, cries out that his soul is among lions, that men have prepared a net for his steps. Yet his heart is fixed; he will sing and give praise. That is the faith of Jacob and Joseph both—a heart anchored in God while calamities roll past. This May, as spring deepens and gardens come alive, we do well to remember that God still works through long years and crooked paths, through famine and forgiveness, through crossed hands and quiet graves. The story that began with a coat of many colours ends with a coffin in Egypt—but God is not finished. He never is.
Reflection
- Jacob crossed his hands deliberately, blessing the younger over the elder, just as God had chosen Jacob over Esau. Where in your own life has God’s plan looked backwards or upside-down to you, and how does this passage invite you to trust His wisdom rather than your own expectations?
- Joseph’s brothers still feared him after seventeen years of kindness. What old guilt or fear are you still carrying that the cross of Christ has already answered, and what would it look like to finally believe the forgiveness you have been given?
Prayer
Father, we thank Thee for the long faithfulness shown in the lives of Jacob and Joseph—for a God who feeds His people all their life long, who turns what men mean for evil into good, and who keeps His covenant from generation to generation. Teach us to trust Thee when Thy ways cross our expectations, as Jacob crossed his hands over Ephraim and Manasseh. Quiet the fears that linger in us, and let us rest in the forgiveness Thou hast given. Fix our hearts, O God, as the psalmist’s heart was fixed, that we may sing and give praise even in the midst of calamity, until the day we are gathered unto our people and see Thee face to face. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 57:1 — “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.”