All The Days of My Life

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE

Gen 48:8-16

8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?" 9 "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them." 10 Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too." 12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May 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 delivered me from all harm — may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."

NIV

There is much within this portion of the narrative with Jacob, Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim, once again, we are impressed with something Jacob said in his blessing of the two sons of Joseph. Jacob started his blessing with a reminder of who God was. He reminded Joseph and his sons that his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham walked with God, and that same God had been his shepherd all his life, even to the very day Joseph and his sons stood before him. Here is where our lives are interwound with the lives of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. Although we cannot say that we have walked with God all the days of our lives, we can say that we have walked with God all the days of our lives. That sounds strange, and that we told it incorrectly. However, we did not have a life until we met Jesus, and accepted him as our Lord and Savior. In Essence, before Jesus, we were dead men walking. Therefore, in that sense, we can say that we have walked with God since we were born again, or born from a born a new creature in Christ. This is when our lives began, for as sure as we are, we did not walk with God the day we were birthed on this earth. It was that moment of our rebirth in the kingdom of God that Jesus started walking and talking with us all the days of our lives. What we can also confirm is what Jacob confirmed as he lie on his deathbed. God, or as we know him, Jesus, was his shepherd all the days of his life. We know Jesus as the Great Shepherd and when we reference the twenty-third Psalm we know the meaning of what Jesus does in our walk with him. He leads us to those green pastures of life, and he makes us lie down beside still waters. The reason they are still waters is because Jesus stills the water, which brings us to the storms in life, where Jesus calms or stills those rough waters and makes sure we get to the other side. Jesus is our Shepherd that restores our souls, or lives. Hence, we confirm the Lord will be our Shepherd all the days of our lives, to our last breath. In eternity, we will know Jesus face to face as His co-heir, and His friend, but we will still be walking with God.