Gen 48:18 Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
I am the world’s worst for thinking about the way things “should” be. The older I get, the more I see how I have lived my life using the expectations of the world. “But this isn’t the way it SHOULD be!” has often been a refrain in my head if not on my lips.
Gen 48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know….his younger brother will be greater than he….”
But we see God subverting this attitude again and again in scripture, including throughout Genesis. Abraham should be too old to father children. Sarah should be barren at her age. Isaac should take the sacrifice with him when he goes up the mountain with Abraham. Jacob, as second born, should not receive the blessing of the covenant. He also should not be considered a godly figure. He’s rather devious. Joseph, as a slave, should not be second in power only to Pharaoh. Again and again and again, God shows us that we can’t bank on what the world thinks should (or should not) happened. God doesn’t think, act, or work according to the world.
1 Sam 16:7 …“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Lord, Thank You for this day, for this scripture, for the reminder that Your thoughts and ways are beyond anything we can imagine. Thank You for being bigger, stronger, wiser, and more sovereign than the ways of this world. Help me not to worry about what “should be” according to anyone but You. Help me to fix my eyes on You. Draw me closer. Amen.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.