January 24
Gen 48:1-49 | PS 20 | Prov 4:20-27 | Matt 15:29-16:12
What defines us? Sadly, the other day I met with a patient who recently lost her teenage son. She is obviously mourning and grieving this devastating loss. We spoke about Jesus, which we often do at her visits. I concluded with reminding her that she can not allow herself to be defined by this event. In God’s eyes she is so much more than a mother of a departed son. The same holds true for those who are confronted with certain illnesses. It is easy to become consumed with cancer walks, setting up funds and awareness, etc. These are not bad things, in fact they are good things and can help heal. But you can’t let yourself be defined by that disease. Like many others I can choose many things to define me. Some are defined by their profession, their activities, their roles as parents or grandparents. Again, good things but this should not define us. For those who know Jesus, we are sinners redeemed by His blood, ambassadors of earth, citizens of heaven, vessels for Almighty God. Our Father will place things in our path to refine us, not define us. It is a process, which means we can’t take our eyes off of our Lord, our eternal destination, and our Great Commission.
We often live our lives, having defined ourselves, and presenting ourselves to the world a certain way. We must remember soberly what is written in Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Yes, He knows what we do in private, as He knows it all (seen clearly in Psalm 139). So, we come to Genesis 49, with the brothers probably waiting in anticipation for the prophetic words of their father, Jacob. In Genesis 49:1. Reuben, the firstborn is probably excited, being the firstborn, and after all, that sin so long ago in Genesis 35:22, was probably long forgotten, "While he was living there, Reuben had intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Jacob soon heard about it." But we hear Jacob's final words for him in Genesis 49:3-4, "“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power. But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer, For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch." Simeon and Levi come next, and probably think that scheme when they murdered the entire town of Shechem is long forgotten, when they took revenge in Genesis 34. But we see Jacob's final words for them in 49:5-7, "“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence...For in their anger they murdered men,...A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel." Judah's past was not great. In Genesis 38 he treated his daughter-in-law poorly and even had sex with her. But he confessed and repented of his actions. In Genesis 37, he was the ringleader behind the selling of Joseph as a slave. But in Genesis 44, not only does he repent of sins publicly to Joseph, he even offers to substitute his life for his brother Benjamin's as we read in 44:33, "“So please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers." So it is through Judah the next in line in whom the promised Messiah would come, despite his imperfect past, as we read in Genesis 49:10 (NKJV), "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." The term Shiloh as used here means "the sent", "the seed", all referring to the future Messiah. When the scepter, or the ability to adjudicate capital punishment was taken away by the Romans, roughly 6-12 AD, though the Jewish leaders mourned according to the historian Josephus since it appeared that this prophecy concerning the coming Messiah went unfulfilled, little did they know the prophecy came true (as they always do), that young Jesus was living in Nazareth at the time.
The world will have no problem defining you, casting any number of labels upon you, some flattering, many not. We often like to define ourselves, which might be accurate or not. What really counts is how God defines us. This was evident to Jacob’s children through his prophetic words. We might fool others, perhaps even fool ourselves. But, our God is all seeing and all knowing. We will never fool Him. In God’s eyes there are His children and others. Which will it be for you? There are no grandchildren in His family. It doesn’t matter how godly your parents were or your pedigree. Have you made that decision? Have you repented? Have you entered into that relationship through Jesus Christ. If not yet, the only two definitions which really matter is being the son or daughter of Father, God, and the bride of Jesus Christ. Seek this. If any are unsure of what this means, please reach out.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: