Genesis 35:9,10
After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So He named him Israel.
As I read these verses, I couldn’t help but be thankful and grateful that God is in the business of blessing His people even though we don’t deserve it! Jacob, at this point, had lived a life more in the flesh than in the Spirit, yet God appears AGAIN to him and blesses him. We might think that Jacob shouldn’t have been blessed, but God, in His Sovereignty, wisdom, and love knew better! He knew that Jacob’s heart, flawed as it was, was for the Lord and had turned to Him.
This makes me think of my own life and how I don’t deserve a thing from the Lord, yet He delights in giving things to His children. Yes, we are to honor, obey, revere, and love Him, but nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to earn His love or His blessings. Mercifully, our God is not a taskmaster keeping track of all our sins, shortcomings, and flaws waiting to bury us under them, but because of Christ, He looks at us much the same as He looked upon Jacob. With love, mercy, forgiveness, acceptance, and a plan for our lives.
I believe that Jacob getting to see God again was just as much of a blessing as the blessing God gave Him! I love that part! Because the greatest blessing we can ever get is to be in and live in the Lord’s Presence, both in this life and the next!
Romans 9:14-16- What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort but on God’s mercy.
God bless! I love you all, but His love brings life! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
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