I'm going to be completely honest here. I was slightly clueless about how this chapter pertained to the devotional, but I still read the entire thing anyway thinking maybe a light bulb will turn on. Surprise, it did. To clarify, I will be the first one to tell you that I am certainly no Bible expert, just a girl posting her ramblings online for others to glean from. I'm not a theologian, or historian, so here are my thoughts...
All throughout this chapter, Jacob is blessing the twelve tribes of Israel and in vs. 28 it says, "he blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him." Each tribe of Israel was known for something specific. Reuben was the firstborn and very honored, but he defiled that honor by sleeping in his father's bed. Simeon and Levi were known for their violence, Judah for waiting patiently like a lion with its prey, and the list goes on. The tribes, as different as they were, did not receive the same blessings. Jacob blessed them with blessings appropriate to each tribe. God didn't necessarily take away the blessing, but the consequences of the tribes choices affected the type of blessing they received.
Challenge: How do you see blessings?
The way I've always seen blessings is like this...
Say a woman is pregnant and uses street drugs and smokes, she is not a believer in Christ. Now, it is pretty much common knowledge that street drugs will harm an unborn baby. However, at some point during her pregnancy, she becomes a believer, stops using the drugs, and changes her life around. She goes into preterm labor because of the drugs and smoking, the baby is fine, but they have to do surgery to save mom. She is unable to have any more children.
Now, did God take away the blessing of children? No, I don't believe so. She (the mom) made certain choices prior to becoming a believer, and there are consequences to those choices. She has one baby, but she cannot have any more.
The choices we make determine how much of the blessing that we receive.
Blessings - Laura Story
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