Genesis 48:15 (NIV) 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.”

When Joseph brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to his father Jacob so that he could bless them before he passed away, Jacob began his blessing, saying some very important and meaningful words. In talking about God, he described Him as the God who had been his Shepherd all his life and also as the Angel who had delivered him from all harm. The Word of God many times refers to God as the Angel of the Lord when He appeared to people as He did with Jacob. The descriptors that Jacob gave to God were right on point.

Someone may want to correct that and say that God certainly was his Shepherd when he turned to the Lord, but not when he was living life as he wanted to and living as a schemer and a deceiver. That’s even what his name, Jacob, means. But Jacob was completely accurate in describing God in this way. God had already put His mark on Jacob while he was still in the womb with his twin brother, Esau. He told his mother, Rebecca, that there were two nations in her womb and that the older son would serve the younger son. Even through his scheming to get Esau's birthright and then cheating him out of his blessing, God never stopped watching over him. When he returned to his father’s family in Ur of the Chaldeans to find a wife, he wound up having to work for the woman he loved, Rachel, and then also work for her sister whom he didn’t love as much. The women’s brother, Laban, cheated him by tricking him into marrying Leah, his older daughter and then making him work seven extra years for Rachel. After he had paid off his debt for his wives, he was going to leave, but Laban offered to pay him to work for him by offering him livestock (sheep and goats). Laban tried to cheat Jacob out of his wages ten times (giving Jacob a little of his own medicine) by changing the way that he was going to pay him, but each time, Jacob would wind up blessed and with his livestock continually multiplying. That wasn’t luck that was with Jacob, but it was the Lord, his Shepherd, who was watching over him. Jacob knew that the reason that he was blessed was because His Shepherd wanted him to be blessed. Then when Jacob snuck away from Laban in the middle of the night with his wives and all his possessions, Laban set out after him with all the men that were with him to do Jacob harm, but God (the Angel) didn’t allow Laban to harm him. Jacob knew who had been with him all along.

Looking back at my life, I can say the same thing that Jacob said. What about you? The Lord has been my Shepherd all my life and has been the Angel who has defended me when I was in trouble, even during my wayward days when I was backslidden and not living the way that I should have been living. If you are saved and have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you too can say that He has been your Shepherd and Angel all of your life. He was watching over you until you surrendered your life to Him. Since He knows all things, He knew that you would submit to Him at a point in your life that He knew about. Until you got to that point, He was watching over you. Give thanks to God for His great mercy and grace in your life, and for His great compassion and patience in not only waiting for us to come to Him, but also for watching over us and protecting us until we did so!

Pastor Joey Vazquez