Jacob's faith
Jacob lived a life of faith in relation to his father, his son Joseph, and his grandchildren. But the detail that was selected about his life occurred when he was dying. One must wait until the end of this man's life before being able to say that he was a man of faith. At the time of his death he blessed Joseph's two sons, who were his grandchildren, and worshiped "leaning on the end of his cane."
God bless you brothers of steemchurch
There are many things we can observe in Jacob's life. He was an illustration of human nature, and of the fact that it is by grace that we are saved. If it had not been for the grace of God, Jacob would have been lost. He had absolutely no human merit. Maybe he was a figure of us all. "I can not bring anything in my hands, only to your cross I can hold on," said Hudson Taylor, a famous missionary who dedicated his life to China. This missionary, founder of a great Mission that worked in China, had a special way of emphasizing the fact that, before God, one is nothing, and that God is the only one who can take nothing and do something with it. The aforementioned missionary said that one day a confident young man came to see him and told him that it was difficult for him to think that he was nothing. Dr. Taylor replied, "Young man, you are nothing, believe it or not, you simply have to accept what the Word of God says about it."
This man, Jacob, was, therefore, a figure of our human nature. There is a lot of talk in psychology about prenatal care, birth care, and post-natal care and how important these care are in a person's life. The gynecologist and the psychologist place much emphasis on the care of the child before birth, during birth and immediately after birth. What can be said about Jacob's life in these aspects? Well, we are told in the Bible that Jacob and Esau were fighting inside their mother's womb. Even before birth, Jacob was struggling to try to take advantage of his brother. So he was a fighter even before he was born. At last he was born, but his hand was locked at the heel of Esau. And that attitude characterized his whole life. Besides, he was a cheater and a scoundrel. However, God transformed his life.
First, in the life of this man, we find that he was a deceiver in his relationship with his father. God had promised Jacob His blessing, but he could not wait for her. He snatched it from his brother Esau with a very deceitful method, which forced him to flee from his home, having to spend the night in Bethel. He felt nostalgic, but nothing had changed in his life. Even when he later went to live with his uncle Laban, he was still relying on his wit. Then, when he was finally returning to his land, God had to stop him. The Lord wrestled with him one night in Jacob's brook and left him lame. But he blessed it.
Later in Jacob's life we see that the same sin he had committed, had to suffer in the life of his son Joseph. One day his children brought the colorful robe that belonged to Joseph bloodied and asked Jacob: "Is this your son's tunic? Do you recognize it?" And Jacob started crying. In the same way that he had cheated, he was deceived by his children and induced to think that Joseph had been killed. The sins of the parents were punished on the children and in this case we have an example of it.
However, at the end of this man's life, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews showed us Jacob's faith in relation to his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh. It says in the verse that we have read, "by faith Jacob, by dying." He was on his deathbed, and because of that act, for the first time in his life it could be said that Jacob did something by faith.
And he continues saying verse 21 that he "blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshiped." For the first time in his life he was obedient. We have always been struck by the detail that he "adored leaning on the end of his cane". What cane? Remember that he had been lame, and that he had a cane that helped him walk. Even when it was time for his death, this man did not want to rest in his bed and die. So there was no blessing in Jacob's life. It was a life of sin and deceit, picaresque and dishonesty. And a life of sin can never be a blessing.
The important thing for you friends of steemit and for me is to verify that God can take any life and straighten it out. Where there is confusion and deception, if there is a faith based on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can cling to Him. Faith was operative in Jacob's life, but we had to wait until the end of his life to see it.
www.steemchurch.net
Reference Reina valera 1960.
@oswaldo02
@oswaldo02, the story of Jacob shows us that even in his weaknesses, Jacob appreciated spiritual values, he was a man who, despite having lived through so many hardships and deception, trusted God and his faith was not in vain because he fought until he found the answer to his faith, and although he fled and was lost until God called him and showed him his blessing through a dream he¡ never left it! and that is our motivation, to believe that He will never leave us and his promises will reach us.