Genesis 48:21.
Jacob was a man rich in experience, and we can learn much from what he passed through and from his words. When Joseph heard that his father was sick, he came to see him, and the aged patriarch recalled to his son some of the outstanding features of his eventful life. God had watched over Jacob, and he had been very conscious of the grace that had been lavished upon him, so that as his end drew near he could say to Joseph, "Behold, I die: but God shall be with you." His sons would be deprived of Jacob's counsel and guiding hand, but the God who had been with him through his many trials would be with them to preserve and bless them.
First of all, Jacob recalls his first meeting with God, saying, "God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me" (Gen. 48:3). He is not now concerned with his failures, with the deceiving of his father and with his being compelled to flee from the vengeance of his outraged brother. These were very sorrowful and solemn matters, but the sense in his soul of the presence of God, and all that it brought to him, put into the background all that he was in himself. Although he had to suffer in the government of God for his sins, the blessing of God in grace had triumphed over all that he was naturally, and it was this that filled his heart as he spoke to Joseph.
Deep down in the heart of Jacob there had ever been the desire for God's blessing. He prized it very highly, but took his own way to secure it. Esau who had despised his birthright was denied the blessing; but Jacob received it, not only from his father, but at Luz, from the God of all grace who, knowing the true desire of Jacob's heart, would grant him his desire, though dealing in faithfulness and righteousness with His wrongdoing.
Then Jacob spoke of the death of Rachel, saying, "And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem" (Gen. 48:7). Jacob's love for Rachel was very great (Gen. 29:20); and his grief must have been very great when he lost her, but in the faith of his soul he rose above the deep, deep sorrow, as is seen in the name he gave to his son. The dying Rachel called the child Benoni (Son of my sorrow), but Jacob called him Benjamin (Son of the right hand). There, near Bethlehem, where the true Son of the Right Hand would come into the world, Jacob manifests his faith in God in the name given to his son. The place where the door seemed to close on Jacob's deepest joys was the place where his brightest hopes would be secured, even in the Babe to be born at Bethlehem.
Then "Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed" (Gen. 48:11). The loss of Joseph had been another of Jacob's deep sorrows; but he had not understood God's ways with him in this. There was not the same rising above it as when he lost Rachel. The natural feelings of his heart often took control, as when he said, "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" (Gen. 42:36).
Everything seemed to be against Jacob, but little though he knew it, the very things that he thought were against him were working for richest blessing, both for him and for his children. Not only was Joseph alive, and Simeon with him, but very soon he would see Joseph, and also his sons. God used the loss of Joseph to preserve Jacob and his house, as also to preserve the lives of many more.
The God who had blessed Jacob at the beginning; who had sustained him in his great sorrow when Rachel died; and who had made what seemed to be his greatest calamity work for rich blessing, would be with the sons of Jacob after their father had departed from them. Jacob had good cause for his confidence in God, and his sons could well rely on the God of Jacob who had brought their father safely through his many trials.
Like Jacob, we are utterly unworthy of the blessings that God has given us. In the sovereignty of His love God has chosen us in Christ before the world's foundation, and has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph.1). And like Jacob we often are unable to understand God's ways with us, for they are past finding out. In times of deep trouble we are inclined to cry with Jacob, "All these things are against me," instead of resting in God's word that "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
Let us ever rest in the confidence manifested by Jacob at the close of his long life of rich experience, when he said, "God shall be with you." When Paul was deserted by all they of Asia, and when none stood with him when before Nero, he was able to say, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me" (2 Tim. 4:17). We can count upon the help and presence of the Lord if we seek to stand for Him, even as He said to His disciples, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).