![]() ![]() All of them, with one exception, contributing to the "death" of Joseph. His past is full of blood, deception, and sin. It would be easy to stop there-easy to stop in this moment where Jacob is fleeing to Egypt in desperation, hoping this man whom his sons met will save them. It would be easy to see Jacob looking over his shoulder and only seeing failure. When Jacob looks over his shoulder, what does he see? He sees 70 offspring. God's promise to Abraham so many years before was to give him a land, to multiply his offspring, and to bless him. He told Abraham he would make his descendants like the sand on the shore. When Jacob looks over his shoulder, it is difficult to miss his own unfaithfulness. At the same time, when Jacob looks over his shoulder, he cannot miss God's faithfulness. In the midst of Jacob's failures, the starvation of his family, and the uncertainty ahead in Egypt, God inserts a genealogy to remind the readers that God is fulfilling his promises, just as he said he would. I find myself in a season of introspection. What mistakes have I made? Where could I have taken a different turn? What if _ hadn't happened? What if I had handled this or that differently? Where have I done well? What do I need to remember next time? I've been doing a lot of looking over my shoulder. ![]() Mirror, mirror on the wall, have I really blown it all ? It is easy, in a season of looking back, to look at the past like a mirror. This is not how Christians are called to look back. In the middle of famines, God builds families. In the middle of pain, he keeps his promises. ![]() Robert Murray McCheyne says it best: "For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ." In the middle of tragedies: a genealogy.įor believers, a look over the shoulder is as far away as we can possibly look from our own navel. Yes, our look over the shoulder will come with reminders of our sins, our failures, and our faults. Christians don't do evasive autobiography. Christians don't find the good news within. Jesus Christ came to the world to save sinners. ![]()
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