Gathered

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

GATHERED

Gen 49:27-33

27 "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder." 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him. 29 Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites." 33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

NIV

We cannot forget about Benjamin, the last son who at birth his mother breathed her last breath. Rachel was the love of Jacob’s life from the moment he saw her at the well near the house of Laban. Little Benjamin is not little any longer as he is a ravenous wolf, an aggressive man, who devours whatever he goes after. Does this mean he will be successful at whatever his endeavor? Perhaps that could be a lesson for us, yet we find it difficult to be that kind of ravenous wolf and be humble unless we devour humbling, or with humility. But this is not the story we want to focus on. Jacob had lived a full life, done many things, and served the Lord throughout all he did. Well, maybe not so much when he stole the birthright from his brother or deceived his father to get the firstborn blessing. He did have a difficult life, but he still served the LORD, Built altars to the Lord, wrestled with God, had his hip touched, to remember, and had his name changed to Israel. Yet, he strengthened himself to prophetically bless all his sons. He finished the race, got to the finish line, drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people, tribe, or flock. The Hebrew does not include “his” in reference to people, or tribe of flock. It could be implied in the context, but at the same time, it could be applied to being gathered to the flock of the Lord. We know that we are not our body, but we are only a temporary resident within this body and someday we too will be gathered to the flock of God. Of course, we believe in the resurrection of the body, in whatever form it may be at the time of the trumpet's blast when all men will be resurrected to stand in the final judgment. Yet, a day is coming when we too will finish the race, after we have gathered our strength from the Lord doing whatever His purpose is for our lives. We know God has numbered our days, with some making the four score and ten years, while others were cut short of it. Some of us have exceeded those years, but the point is that we should always be drawing our strength from the Lord, and doing what His plan and purpose is for our lives. Although we have the freedom to choose our own path, we have chosen to follow His path that he has lit the way for us. He is taking us on the journey of a lifetime until that day when we will be gathered onto our people, Jesus, who is our people, our person. Until that day, we will walk with our Lord, or we should say, He will walk with us and talk to us. However, it is our choice to listen and obey, until we reach that finish line and we are gathered.