the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Genesis 48:8-22
"By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph", (Hebrews 11:21). In giving the younger the elder one’s blessing and vice-versa, his thoughts must have gone back to the sad incident of Genesis 27:1-46. He is blind now, as Isaac was then. But he can discern the mind of God. It has been said that Jacob never walked so well as when he was lame, and never saw so well as when he was blind. He calls on "the God that shepherded him all his life long".* He knew by experience the work and difficulties of a shepherd (Genesis 31:38-40). Now he takes the place of the sheep and notices the patient care of which he was the object on the part of his Shepherd. Like Jacob, David served his apprenticeship keeping "his father’s sheep", (1 Samuel 17:34). Later he was called to be ruler over Israel (2 Samuel 7:7-8). Moreover it is he who wrote Psalms 23:1-6 : "The LORD is my shepherd". Each of us knows the sweet name by which the Lord Jesus calls Himself: "I am the good shepherd (John 10:11; ; John 10:14). It is a name which He has justified by giving His life for His dear sheep, then taking care of them and leading them as God took care of Jacob even without his knowing, all through his life. But can each one of us say like Jacob and David – "He is my shepherd"?
*JND. New Translation. Genesis 48:15.
