(Genesis 48:13-26)

"God bless you!" when someone sneezes!

Well, here is a story about blessings – and not too much at all
about sneezing!

So where were we? Oh yeah, back in Egypt!

At last, the 7 long years of famine were over.

The rains started to fall.

The crops began to grow.
And Jacob and his family settled into their new home in the
Land of Goshen. And God blessed them.

Their crops grew abundantly. And their families grew

abundantly too! They became rich in every way.
Jacob lived 17 years in the Land of Goshen, until he was 147
years old. That is old!

And what happens when things get old? They start to wear out,
that's what! And that's what happened to Jacob. His eyes were
going bad. His legs were getting weak. Until finally, he didn't
even have the strength to get out of bed.
Jacob knew his time on earth was almost over.
And so he sent for his son Joseph.

...that his father had called for him, he left his home and
traveled to the land of Goshen. When he entered his Father's
tent, Jacob said,

"Joseph, Is that you?"

"Yes, Father," Joseph said.

"Come here by my bed. I want you to make a solemn promise

to me.

"Promise me that when I die you won't bury me here in Egypt.

Promise me that you will bury me in the land of my fathers."
Jacob wanted to make sure he was buried in the land that God
had promised his family.

"I promise," Joseph said.

So Jacob made Joseph make a solemn vow. Joseph promised

that Jacob would be buried in the land of his father Isaac, and
Isaac's father Abraham.

...and Jacob was getting weaker and weaker.

One day a message came to Joseph that his father was sick and
close to dying. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and his
younger brother Ephraim, and traveled to see his father once
again.

Jacob was lying in his tent with his eyes closed. His body was
tired and worn out from a long, long life. But when he heard
Joseph and his sons coming, he used all his strength to pull
himself up in his bed.

"Joseph, is that you?"

"Yes, Father."

"Come closer!" Jacob said, holding out his bent and bony
hands.

"When I was younger, the Lord God Almighty appeared to me

at Luz. This was in the land of Canaan, and the Lord blessed
me there. The Lord said to me, 'I will give you many children,
and they will have many children, and they will have many
children, and from them will come many nations. I will give
this land to them, and it will be their land forever.' "

And then Jacob said in his trembling, old voice, "Joseph, your
two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt – from
now on I will call them my sons. They will be my sons just as
Rueben and Simeon are my sons. And they will share in my
heritance just as they will. (And that's why Ephraim and
Manasseh will each become one of the 12 tribes of Israel... but
we will get to that later!)

"Joseph, I am doing this because I loved your mother Rachel so

much!

"She died in the land of Canaan, and I buried her there, beside
the road to Ephrath (The little town that became known as
Bethlehem. That little town is going to become very famous
one day! You might have even heard of it already!).

Now, Jacob could barely see the shapes of two boys standing
there.

"Joseph," Jacob said, pointing to the two shapes, "Who are

these boys?"

"They are my sons!" Joseph said, "The sons God has blessed
me with here in the land of Egypt."
Then Jacob said, "Bring them here so that I may bless them."

Joseph brought his sons to their grandfather, and Jacob

wrapped his arms around them and hugged them as hard as he
could. His eyes filled with tears.
"Joseph, many, many years ago your brothers told me that you
had been killed by a wild animal. I thought that I would never
see you again –

– and now here you are!

"God has truly blessed me!

"And now God has blessed me even more – God has let me see
your children!"

Joseph bowed to the ground before his father. And then he had
his two sons kneel at the foot of Jacob's bed so Jacob could
bless them.
Now, in the time of Jacob, a father's blessing was a special and
important thing.

When a father blessed his children, he was saying, "God is with

us!"

He was saying, "We are a family that lives under God's care
and protection."

He knew that all the good things they had were blessings from
God. And so he tried his best to keep his family following
God's way. He knew that if you try to go your own way, and
walk away from God, you walk away from God's blessings too.
And the wonderful thing is that God wants to bless us! It's just
who God is!

All of life is a blessing from God!

There! That breath you just took - you did take a breath, didn't
you?! - that breath was a blessing from God!

All you have to do is look around at all the good things God
has made for us to see that all of that is true!

Well, just think of it. God could have given us crackers and
water to eat, and called it good. But no! God gives us bananas
and grapes and figs and pineapples, carrots and broccoli and
spinach – chocolate! And ice cream and cookies and a million
other good things to eat!

God could have made a flower or two, maybe a dandelion and

a skunk cabbage, and called it good. But no! God made roses
and daffodils and shooting stars and columbine and a thousand
different kinds of flowers – and he scatters them everywhere!
God could have put a few stars in the sky and called it good.
That would be nice. But no! God put BILLIONS and
BILLIONS of stars in the sky for us!

That's how much God wants to bless us!

So some time just go outside and look at all that God has made
for us.... the trees and flowers, the big puffy clouds in the sky...
and the sun that comes up every morning to warm us and give
us light! When you see all those good things God has given us,
be happy! That's why God has made them for you! God's
blessings are God's love!

And you know what?

YOU are a blessing from God! You are a blessing even more
amazing than all the stars in the sky! It's true! The stars are all
cool and all, but can they show God's love the way you can?

Can they make someone smile like you can?

Can they do a nice thing for someone who needs help like you
can?
Nope!

God is so good!

Where were we? Oh yeah...

So when a father gave his children his blessing he was putting

them under God's care, like putting them under a blanket of
God's protection. He knew that if they live the way God wants
them to live – if they walk in his ways – God will bring them
goodness and joy, and a rich and happy life.

Not that they will never have any troubles. Troubles are a part
of life too. But when hard times come, God will be with them
and see them through.

One day one of the writers of the Psalms will say,

"Even when I walk through dark and scary places, I will not be
afraid because I know that God is with me!"
Well, just look at the troubles God brought Jacob and Joseph
through!

(That was Psalm 23 – but it won't be written for quite few years
yet! Well, quite a few years after the time of Jacob and his
family, that is!)

Now in those days, when a father died everything he owned

was divided among his children. But the oldest son received
twice as much as the others. That was called the Birthright.
When a father died the oldest son became the head of the
family. It was his job to keep the family living under God's
care and protection.
So Joseph put Manasseh at Jacob's right hand, to receive the
blessing of the oldest son, and Ephraim at his left hand.

But Jacob crossed his hands – and put his right hand on
Ephraim, even though he was the younger son, and his left
hand on Manasseh!
And then Jacob blessed them and said,

"May God bless these boys, just as God blessed my father

Isaac, and his father Abraham!

May God, who has brought me here to this very day,

bless them!
 May the angel who watched over me in times of trouble,
bless
them!

May my name be remembered in them just like we

remember my father Isaac, and we remember his father
Abraham.

May they have many children! And may their children

have many children, and may their children have many
children. May they become a great nation!"

But Joseph was upset when he saw that Jacob had put his right
hand on Ephraim, the younger son.

"No! Not that way, father!" Joseph said, "You put your right
hand on Ephraim! But Manasseh is the oldest! Put your right
hand on him!"

But Jacob said, "I know, my son, I know! A great nation will
come from Manasseh, but a greater one will come from
Ephraim!" If you remember, Jacob received his father Isaac's
blessing instead of Esau, even though Esau was the oldest too!
Well, just watch and you will see that God seems to like to do
the surprising thing! He puts the little brother above the big
brother. He picks the smallest and weakest to become the
strongest. The ones who are last, God puts first!

And one day a tiny baby will be born in a stable in a little,

nowhere town - and he will save the world!

So Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. He said, "One day

our people will say, 'May The Lord bless you like Ephraim and
Manasseh.' "

And then he said to Joseph, "I am ready to die, but God is with
you. God will take you back to the land of my father Isaac and
his father Abraham."

And so Jacob blessed Joseph and his sons that day.

...all good things – like ice cream sundaes, and sunny days, and
even your brothers and sisters – are blessings from God!

Ice cream sundaes, and sunny days, and long life are wonderful
things, but the best thing is that they are gifts from God. That's
really where the happiness comes from! They let us know that
God is with us and that God loves us. Sundaes melt, storms
come, and life comes to an end – but God's love never ends.

Live each and every day with God. Live each day in God's
blessings. Live each day in God's love!

So here is a blessing for you!