Follow the LORD, He Knows

“¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.’ ¹⁹But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.’” – Genesis 48:17-19 (ESV)

Jacob was an old man and was barely able to see anything at all. Here we find him just meeting his grandsons and blessing them. Now, Jacob was in close concert with God and His plans. He was always following the LORD. In the above passage, Jacob was blessing the sons of Joseph, and appeared to make a mistake in blessing younger of them as would traditionally be done of the first born, and rightfully so, Joseph moves to correct him. Jacob then lets it known that he is indeed correct in his blessing.

Here we find Jacob following the will of God in the lives of those in his lineage. He was blessing the one who would be greater to acknowledge that he would be greater. Where it would not manifest until later, it is important to note that the will of God was being followed here.

Jacob, for all of his shortcomings, followed the LORD and did not apologize for it. He was bold and deliberate. In this passage, we find that Joseph moved his sons to the hands of Jacob for the blessing and Jacob crossed his hands when laying hands on them for the blessing. Jacob knew, thanks to God which was which and took action to follow.

I have to remember that for all of my knowledge, intelligence, understanding, and learning, I still have to follow the LORD, because He knows.

What do you know? Are you of the opinion that you know it all? What if you were to surrender to the LORD and follow Him as He is the one who truly knows?