it's amusing (and a little alarming) to read Jacob's blessings of his children and Joseph's children. for one thing, he gives the older son blessing to Joseph's younger son... just like the younger brother that Jacob was would be expected to do. but he also had some harsh things to say to some of his own children... and some nice things to say about Joseph. kinda makes you wonder about Naphtali.
in the NT, Jesus is dealing with his dense disciples. which gives us hope. if His disciples, who were with Him every day and went on to become the amazing men of God they were, started off like that, maybe we have a chance, too.
first, they wonder where they're going to get enough food to feed all of those people... this, right after they JUST SAW Jesus feed the 5,000. and then... Jesus says "beware the yeast of the Pharisees" and they apparently stop listening at the word "yeast"... and argue about who was supposed to bring the bread.
it makes me wonder what I myself am dense about. what lessons do I just keep NOT learning because I can't get past a certain thought process. because my guilt or my fault finding with my fellow man keeps me from seeing the deeper lesson that Jesus is trying to show me?
open my eyes, Lord.
3 comments:
Deja vu, comes to mind in the readings today. Joseph's blessings to the youngest has been an alarming theme thus far. Could it be leading to the first will be last and the last will be first?
NT, reminds me of getting hung up on a partial concept, and not listening to get the true message. Instead of focusing on the desires of our heart and keeping asking God for something we want, try thanking Him for it once you have asked and await His time not ours. Open my ability to have patience in your time frame not my own.
As far as the blessing goes, it reminds me of what one of Grace's coaches told me one time when dealing with something with her....parenting isn't always pretty. Maybe he needed to be harsh in order to get someone's attention? NT reading reminds me that we are all slow learners, but that we can learn. In my job, I test kids for specific learning disabilities and the hard part of my job is getting parents to understand that their child may be slower than others when learning to read, but that THEY can learn, just at a slower pace. Christians are like that, too. We want to learn everything at once, not slowly so it can sink in. I was reading another Bible passage where Jesus told a parable (I can't remember which one),and Jesus was amazed that his disciples didn't get the true meaning. He had to explain it several times. Sometimes it takes time to understand things and as humans that's hard to grasp. I hope this makes sense.
Exodus 12 reveals God's instructions for the observance of Passover. Part of the preparation for the feast was removing all the yeast from one's home. Yeast is a picture of sin working through the whole dough of our lives. The yeast of the Pharisees was their pride and self-assurance in their own manmade traditions. We become dense when we remain unreachable in our arrogance.
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