Verse of the Day - ‭‭Psalm 146:5

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God.

Reflection 

God made a covenant with Abraham to bless him and his descendants and to give them the promised land at the time when Abraham didn’t have a son of his own. When Isaac was born to Abraham as the promised child, God confirmed the covenant with Isaac, as well as to Jacob when Isaac had him and his brother Esau. Jacob was the youngest of the two but God chose him to inherit the promise together with Isaac and Abraham, and that was the beginning of Jacob receiving help from God throughout his life. 

He deceived his father to steal his brother, Esau’s blessing, and when his brother sought to kill him, God spared his life and didn’t allow his brother to kill him. He sought refuge from his mother’s brother, Laban, in Padan Aram, and over there despite the deception, the cheating, and the hard labor Laban put him through, God still increased him and blessed him greatly. He went there with nothing, but returned with possessions and a large family. On his way back to his father’s land, he got God’s attention for God to bless him and change his name from Jacob to Israel, a name that manifested itself when his descendants became the nation of Israel. 

Every time I read about Jacob, I realized how much he suffered affliction and pain in his life compared to Abraham and Isaac, but God always helped him and assured him of His covenant. Even after so many years of grieving for his beloved son, Joseph, thinking that he was dead, God gave Jacob the opportunity to live long to see the son he loved again, and that is indeed the grace of God. He made a statement when he met Joseph and his sons, a statement that stirs up emotions in me each time I read the story, he said, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring! [‭‭Genesis‬ ‭48‬:‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬]. This is definitely a story of restoration, grace and hope fulfilled.

I believe the author may have had all these experiences of Jacob in mind when they wrote that truly, a man who is considered blessed is the one who has received the kind of help Jacob received from his God, who is the God of heaven and earth, our Creator. 

When connected to the life of Jacob, the verse of the day teaches us that a child of God may go through oppositions, trials and difficult times in their life, but there is the assurance that God will always fight for His own and fulfill His promises to them.