What Does God Bless?

Jacob had a very loving relationship with his adult son Joseph. This last interaction is very interesting to me...

"Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." And he said, "Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them." Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ... Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn)... When 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. And Joseph said to his father, "Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head." But 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 48:9-10, 12-14, 17-19 ESV

You see the love and tenderness but you also see the disconnect of expectations... father and son... the son was an accomplished man... God had used him to save 'the world' from famine but Jacob represented God... He was the honored one and the one with the power to bless...

God doesn't bless what we do in the way we want Him to. His priorities are different... He often blesses the thing of 'lower' importance to us. The thing we stumbled into versus the thing we worked to build.

Does He love us.... YES!... or course He loves us beyond what we can imagine. Jacob lost Joseph and got him back. A father couldn't love his son more than Jacob loved Joseph.

God can't love you more than He does right now. No matter what you do or don't do.

We push things in front of God and say... bless them... and it is good and right that we do that but we also shouldn't be surprised if He 'crosses His arms' in the blessing to bring an unexpected result.

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