The Lord Takes Such Good Care of Me: God Loves Us All Equally (Genesis 48:13-19)
“The Lord is my Shepherd. He’s all that I need.” – Colby’s Clubhouse 🐑
Dear belittled baby,
At some point in our lives, we think we’re small. Some of
you might have wished they’re literally tall. Many of us want to be better. The
ambitious dreams to be bigger. The poor hopes to be richer. The child waits to
be older.
If we look at the Bible, the younger is actually more
favored than the older. Between the first two children on earth, the offering
of the younger was regarded by God. Well, this was because Abel offered a more
acceptable sacrifice. Between the sons of Isaac, the Lord said the older shall
serve the younger. Between the daughters of Laban, which Jacob both married, he
loved the younger over the older. Among his 12 sons, Jacob favored Joseph, the
penultimate. Now, let’s look at Joseph’s sons.
Genesis 48:13-19 (NASB)
13 And
Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and
Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to
him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on the
head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head,
crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he
blessed Joseph, and said,
“The God before whom
my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been
my shepherd all my life to this day,
16 The
angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the boys;
And may my name live
on in them,
And the names of my
fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And may they grow
into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
17 When
Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it
displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head
to Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my
father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” 19
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a
people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater
than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
We may think God is biased. Think again. God came down on earth as a human to save the whole planet. We're all subject to death because of sin. Anyone who believes in Him will be with Him eternally. It doesn’t matter what you've done before as long as you turn away from sin now. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian. If He's your Lord and Savior, you can enter heaven. This shows God's justice. Those who do not repent of their sin will be burned forever, and those who come to Jesus and repent will live forever, but He loves us all equally.
God may have made Ephraim's descendants more, but what did Manasseh receive? Since he was born first, he had a birthright. From the Old Testament times, the firstborn son had special
privileges. He’ll be the priest of the family, he’ll have a double portion of
the inheritance, and he’ll succeed to the official authority of his father
I’d like to point out the focus of this epistle, the part of
verse 15 where the Lord is called “the God who has been my shepherd all my life” by Joseph. This is the first mention of God being our Shepherd in the Bible
What better title to feature than a children’s song? This
entry is named after a song we sang as our church’s Children’s Choir, “Psalm 23:
The Lord Takes Such Good Care of Me” from the Colby 4 album. It’s not on
Spotify, so I can’t add it to my public playlist.
Young ones are special to God because of what they represent:
They’re innocent and dependent. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-4, “Truly I say to
you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom
of heaven. So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven.” That's why no matter how small we think we are, let's see how God loves us and strengthens us in our vulnerabilities. Also, no matter what heights we've reached, let's keep our feet on the ground and give God the glory for all that He enabled us to do.
Let’s humble ourselves like a child. Let the way we see
ourselves be mild, but let our imaginations run wild. Color outside the
drawing. Chase that butterfly flying. See you can do anything under the
protection of your Dad the King. Be His baby loved so dearly, watched so
closely, blessed daily.
With love,
Celina <3
References
Langham, K. (n.d.). Genesis 48 | The Blessing. Genesis
| Origins. Westminster, California, United States of America: Through the
Word.
Smith, W. (1901). Birthright Definition and
Meaning. Retrieved from Bible Study Tools:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/birthright/
Next: Strangers Here: Slavery’s Imagery (Exodus 1:11-22)
Previous: Shout Your Fame: Sharing God’s Message (Genesis 37:5-11)
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