Unexpected

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 47:27-31, 48:1-2,8-19, 49:33, 50:1-6 (day five)
“I know, my son, I know.  He too will become a people, and he too will become great.  Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”  (48:19)  It  was an unexpected move.  A departure from tradition.  The oldest son normally received the greater blessing and, with it, the responsibility for leadership in the family.  Jacob, however, favored Ephraim over his older brother.  We do not know how Jacob received this insight, but we do know that he was convinced that God had made this choice.  God does not govern according to our expectations. He chooses and calls according to His free and sovereign will.  Believers learn to trust His judgment.  Strange that Joseph resisted.  God made the same declaration over his life– the younger son to whom his brothers would bow.  What about you?  Open to God’s choice?  Even when it’s contrary to your expectations?

Author: Don Guthrie

Don Guthrie is the Senior Pastor at FBCSA.

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