The same is true in the life of faith.  We are on a journey, a great pilgrimage.  The pilgrimage is not great due to its destination.  The pilgrimage is not great because of the “adventures” that lie along the way.  The pilgrimage is great because of the Company we keep.  But many times along this pilgrimage we call life, the adventures or misadventures tend to cloud our vision and we fail to recognize the presence of God in our lives.

In Genesis 42:36, Jacob, like many of us,  failed to recognize the presence of God in his life.

And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me

Sometimes the misadventures of life overwhelm us and we cry as Jacob – “ALL these things are against me.”  In times like these, be swift to look for the presence of God, to discern His Spirit in the matter.  Such discernment only comes from practice.

Later in Jacobs life, when he blesses the sons of Joseph (as mentioned in Hebrews 11:21), he reflects

And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. – Genesis 48:14-16

Note, “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil.”  It was no longer “All these things are against me,” but rather he recognized the presence of God in his life and says “The Angel which redeemed me.”  Jacob could look back in reflection and see the presence of God.  With these reflections of the past, he had learned to recognize God’s presence in the present.  He was able to discern the presence of God in the matter of blessing his grandchildren.

When we fail to have faith in God, it is because we fail to see the presence of God. Therefore, we must be diligent in to view the presence of God in our lives.  Often times we must learn by reflecting on the past, seeing how God has worked in order to be sensitive to how He is working.  Then, take the time to practice the presence of God in the little things of life – finding that close parking spot when it’s pouring down rain, finding that special birthday gift that everyone seems to be sold out of, avoiding that accident that happened 5 minutes earlier because the lady in front of you at the grocery store took “forever” paying the cashier with her pennies – and praise Him when you see Him.

Reflect and praise Him for what He has done.  Look for His presence in the little things. Read His Word which tells us how He works and praise Him we see Him working accordingly.  Spend time talking with Him.  And as you begin to see His presence in the little things and to trust Him with the little things, the “big” things won’t seem so “big.”   You’ll find His presence in the “big” things as well. Your trust and faith in Him will grow and you will be able to trust Him with greater and greater things.

It’s true, the journey is only as great as the company you keep.  Do you recognize the greatness of the Company you keep?

Practice His presence.

Picture this: We’re moving. My wife packs a box – LARGE box.  Not heavy, but large; so large I cannot see over it and I cannot see around it.  There are steps.  How many? I do not know.  So my thoughtful wife decides to count them for me as I carried the box down the steps so that I would know how to step.

My wife: 1…2…3…[silence]

THOUGHT: “Oh, that must be the last step.”

CRASH!!!

REALITY: “There are 4 steps!”

QUESTION: “Can my wife count higher than 3?”  [this was also a thought, lest I suffer real pain]

I was walking by faith, not by sight.  I had placed faith in my wife because I could not see. Scripture tells us in several places that

The just shall live by faith – Rom. 1:17

and that

we walk by faith, not by sight – II Cor. 5:7

With these thoughts in mind, we realize that the life of faith requires discernment.  Like Jacob, we must be able to discern because we can’t always see the next step of life that lay before us or know how to handle the situation bearing down on us.  But how do we learn discernment?

Of whom [Jesus] we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. – Hebrews 5:11-14

According to these verses discernment comes from knowing the “oracles of God” – knowing God’s Word.  Those “babes” in Christ were “unskillfull in the word of righteousness.”  The mature individual, because he knew the Word and used the Word, had become skillful and their senses sharpened and they were able “to discern both good and evil.”

Many today have been lead astray because of  a lack of knowledge and lack of exercise in the Scriptures.  They trusted what man said about the Bible rather than what the Bible said about man.  They did not have the knowledge and they did not search the Scriptures to identify “Thus saith the Lord….”  Discernment requires a knowledge and use of the Word of God.

Discernment also relies on knowing the Spirit of God in a matter; being sensitive to His leading.  We must empty ourselves of self and allow the Spirit to fill us, so that He can lead us.

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.  – Isaiah 30:21

In life, decisions are not always black and white.  Jacob’s decision concerning the blessing of his grandchildren wasn’t a choice between “good and evil”, “right and wrong;” it was a decision based on the discerning the Spirit of God of what was best. 

Whether is matters of “right and wrong”, “good and evil”, or “good, better and best”, our knowledge and use of Scripture, and our reliance on the Spirit of God are the foundations for discernment.  Without them….

1…2…3…CRASH!!

By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. – Hebrews 11:21

At first glance, one might ask, “Where’s the faith in that?”  “What am I supposed to learn from Jacob giving a blessing to his two grandchildren?”  To fully understand, one must understand the life of Jacob and read the full context of this blessing (Genesis 48).

Jacob was the younger of twin brothers.  God had stated before the boys were born,”the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).  Jacob was to be the recipient of the blessing and the birthright, not the older brother as dictated by tradition. Yet, Jacob was a deceiver, a supplanter (this is the literal meaning of his name).  He took advantage of his brothers hunger and his lack of spiritual concern to obtain the family birthright for a bowl of stew. As his father Isaac lay dying desiring as his last wish to bless his oldest boy, Jacob unwilling to wait and allow God to work deceived his blind father into believing his was the elder brother and receiving the blessing.  The birthright and the blessing were to be Jacobs, this was God’s plan but this was not God’s way; it was Jacob’s way.

One might think that here at the end of his life, Jacob is once again doing “life his way” – blessing the younger son of Joseph with the greater blessing as his father Isaac should have done for him.  Maybe Jacob is trying to make his own point .  Or maybe he’s trying to get back at life – “Hey, my life would not have been so hard if this would have happened in my life. Let me show you what should have been done.” But this was not the case. Jacob came to the end of his life having learned the hard way.

In the early years, Jacob believed in God, worshipped God, sacrificed to God and dedicated things to God.  But it was not until that infamous night that he wrestled with God that his life changed.  It was the night he dedicated himself to God and was no longer Jacob, the “supplanter”, but Israel, “a prince with God.”  The Jacob we know after that night is much different than the Jacob before that night.

Years have passed since that night and now when Jacob comes to bless his grandchildren, he comes with experience – good and bad.  He comes with the experience of having lived life his way and the experience having lived it God’s way.  He comes with the knowledge that living God’s way is far superior.  He knows the life of faith and experience has taught him discernment.  He recognized the presence of God in this situation and followed both the plan and the path that God had laid out. 

And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.  And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.  And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh – Genesis 48:19-20

Jacob’s faith brought discernment to recognize the presence of God in this situation.  As a youth, he knew God’s plan but failed to follow God’s path.  After dedicating himself to the life of faith, he learned the discernment to not only know God’s plan but to follow His path.  As a youth, Jacob “rushed in where angels feared to tread” but in the end, his faith teaches us to learn discernment, to recognize the presence of God by following His plan and His path.

Article 1 in Series – A Prince With God

Article 1 – The Faith to Discern

Article 2 – Learning to Discern [Coming Soon]

Thank you again for your patience. Lord willing blogs will be published at regular intervals again.

Thanks for reading.

God had seemingly done the unthinkable, but Abraham had to trust God in the horror of the morning just as he had trusted Him in the hour of prayer the night before.  His faith was required to look beyond his field of vision into the face of the Holy God, the Righteous “Judge of all the earth.”

The soul of Abraham had asked the question,

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? – Genesis 18:25

Now, his faith was required to answer.

As Abraham looks down into the valley viewing the unthinkable, he has no idea that

it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, – Genesis 19:29

God never forgets!

God heard the words of Abraham’s prayer, but more importantly, He heard the prayer of Abraham’s heart.  His words said “Spare Sodom and Gomorrah.”  His heart pleaded “Spare my nephew, Lot, and his family.”  God did not answer the words of Abraham’s prayer; He answered the prayer of Abraham’s heart.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utterred.  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. – Romans 8:26-27

“The Judge of all the earth” did what was righteous. The Almighty God, the Righteous Judge, knew the heart of Abraham and answered Abraham’s prayer more specifically than Abraham had asked or even dreamed.  The earnest prayer of Abraham’s soul was that his family be spared.  They were the “ten” he had asked God to spare.  And God answered, not by sparing the cities of the plains, but by actually sparing Abraham’s family.  He heard the prayer of Abraham’s heart, even when Abraham’s words failed to reflect his heart.

When burdens become heavy and the prayer of faith is all that we have, we often cannot find the words to express our heavy load, our deep sense of urgency and our utter helplessness.  Simply put, we don’t know how to pray.  We don’t know what to pray. All we know is that we need to pray.  Words may allude us and all we can manage is to whisper His name.  Our hearts melt; our eyes weeps; our lips quiver; and our tongues fail us.  In times like these take comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit of God intercedes on our behalf.  He knows “what we should pray for as we ought.” He knows the intricacies of our burden, the heaviness of our heart and the frailty of our beings.  He helps us and communicates to the Father for us.  God the Father, “he that searcheth the hearts,” knows our hearts, our burdens, and our frailties;  He knows the “mind of the Spirit” because the Spirit has interceded for us.  Even though words failed us, God heard our prayer.

The Righteous Judge shall do right.  The Almighty One will answer the prayer of faith in His time and in His way.  When it seems we have been forgotten, we must look through eyes of faith believing that one day we will see that

“it came to pass… that God remembered.”

[Article 7 of 7 in Series on Prayer]

Article 1 – An Anomaly of the Christian Life

Article 2 – Between Friend

Article 3 – The Hose of Prayer

Article 4 – Forged Prayer

Article 5 – Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Article 6 – The Praying Hands

Article 7 – God Remembered