Blessings, Hardships, and Perspective
Blessings, Hardships, and Perspective
Jacob’s Many Blessings
Jacob was a blessed man.
In Genesis 27, Jacob stole his brother’s blessing from their father — a blessing that proved effectual throughout the course of his life.
“May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” - Genesis 27:28–29 (ESV)
Genesis 30 tells us that God blessed the work of Jacob’s hands, and that over time, he became a very prosperous man (Genesis 30:43).
In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled with God, for which he was given the blessing of a new and better name.
And over the course of his life, Jacob was blessed with 12 sons, and 1 daughter.
Indeed, Jacob was a blessed man.
Jacob’s Many Hardships
But Jacob also experienced some hardships in his life.
Jacob was estranged from his family for many years, for understandable reasons (Genesis 27, Genesis 32) — though he and his brother were ultimately reconciled, and his family reunited (Genesis 33).
Jacob also had some marital issues that were not entirely his fault (Genesis 29–31).
The wife whom Jacob loved died giving birth to their son Benjamin (Genesis 35:16–20).
And when Jacob’s favorite son Joseph was 17, he was presumed dead (Genesis 37), which sent Jacob into a bout of depression lasting over 20 years — though Jacob would eventually learn that Joseph was alive and well in actuality (Genesis 45).
Yes, Jacob underwent some really hard things.
Jacob’s Perspective
Jacob was a blessed man who also experienced some hardships in his life.
Yet, at the point of his life when things took a dramatic turn for the better, at the ripe old age of 130 (already 10 years beyond the average life-expectancy of his day according to Genesis 6:3), Jacob had this to say about his life:
“The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” - Genesis 47:9b (ESV)
Rather than recounting the many ways God had blessed him, Jacob focused on the hard things; and rather than being grateful for the days he’d been given, he compared his life to the lives of his father and grandfather — which he perceived to have been “more blessed” than his.
Blessings or Hardships?
Jacob’s story is a sobering reminder to us that perspective is everything.
We are all more blessed than we could ever imagine, despite the guarantee that we will have hardships in this life (John 16:33). But if we don’t have eyes to see our many blessings, “few and evil” will be the days of our sojourning, and not nearly as good as those of someone else.
Note: This article was first published in Devotable on September 20, 2021.
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