Sometimes you get amazing wisdom from children. And sometimes it comes from those who have been around the block a time or two.

Jacob had definitely been around the block a few times. He lived to be 147 years old, and shortly before his death he asked his son Joseph to bring his grandsons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to him. He wanted to give them his blessing.

It's as he's bestowing a blessing upon Joseph and the two boys that Jacob (by then renamed Israel) says, "Then he blessed Joseph and said, 'May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys'" (Genesis 48:15-16a, NIV).

At the very end of his 147 years of life, Jacob looks back and affirms that God had been with him all the way, had walked with him and shepherded him throughout his life, and had protected him every time something threatened to harm him... to this day.

What was Jacob thinking in that exact moment? Was he contemplating all the sins of deception he had committed? Was he reflecting on his brother Esau's once murderous intentions toward him? Was he considering his father-in-law Laban's cheating, conniving ways that cost him 20 years of that life? Was he pondering the time he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord? Or the time when Esau and his 400 men were riding out to meet him as he made his way back to Canaan?

Maybe it was all of the above. But whatever it was from the past, Jacob claimed that the very same shepherding and protecting was still happening in the present!

Jacob saw it all clearly, both the past and the present. He saw God's providence and protection... to this day. He spied many evidences of God's love... to this day. He witnessed many instances of God's guidance and forgiveness... to this day.

How about you? As you look back, do you see in your own life what Jacob saw? Do you see the same shepherding and protecting... to this day?

Lord, give me the eyes of Jacob. I want to see you as he did. I want to have the eyes of faith to know that as I walk through life, I am in your eyesight. You are shepherding me every day. You are delivering and helping me at all times, keeping me from harm... to this day!

Our Bible reading for Saturday, January 24, is Genesis 47:13 - 48:22, Matthew 16:21 - 17:13 and Proverbs 3:1-10.

Header image based on "Calendar*" by Cholet, CC by 2.0