11/09/2025
HOLY WORD FOR MORNING REVIVAL WEEK 3 — DAY 5
Morning Nourishment
Gen. 43:14 And may the All-sufficient God grant you mercy before the man...
48:15-16 And he blessed Joseph and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has shepherded me all my life to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys...
Jacob’s history must also become our biography. We must believe that everything in our daily life is under God’s sovereign hand. Everything that happened to Jacob was for his transformation and maturity. In order to be transformed, Jacob had to be pressed into situations that gave him no choice except to undergo a change...God will sovereignly use persons, things, and events to empty us of everything that has filled us and to take away every preoccupation so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with God...The two main aspects of Jacob’s experience are transformation and maturity...The Lord is working among us, on us, and in us to transform us and to cause us to mature. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1199-1200)
Today’s Reading
From Jacob’s experience we see that everything that happens to us is under God’s sovereignty for our transformation and maturity. Nothing is accidental. God’s eternal purpose can only be accomplished through our transformation and maturity.
In his early days Jacob always trusted in his own skill and ability. However, after the dealings in the last stage, his trust was no longer in himself, but in God. Jacob had come to know God’s mercy. In his experiences through all his life, he eventually realized that it was God’s mercy, not his skill and ability, that had counted in his situations. And he had also learned that this merciful God is all-sufficient, not only almighty, to meet his needs in every kind of situation. Hence, Jacob said to his sons, “May the All-sufficient God grant you mercy before the man” (Gen. 43:14). Now his trust and rest are altogether in the mercy of his all-sufficient God, no longer in himself and in his ability. Here we see a man who has been fully transformed for maturity.
When Jacob went to Egypt, he did not engage in any activity for himself. This also is a manifestation of his maturity...He was fully satisfied and rested absolutely in God’s sovereignty. He did not depend upon his own endeavors. From his experience throughthe years, he had come to know that his destiny was in the hands of God, not in his own hands. As Jacob was about to bless the two sons of Joseph, he spoke of God as the One who had shepherded him all his life long (48:15-16). Jacob’s word in 48:15 and 16 is a reference to the Triune God. Here we see the Triune God in Jacob’s experience, not in doctrine...Here we see a threefold mention of God: the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who shepherded Jacob his whole life long, and the Angel who delivered him from evil. The God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked must be the Father; the God who shepherded Jacob his whole life must be the Spirit; and the Angel who redeemed him from all evil must be the Son. This is the Triune God in Jacob’s experience.
Now we come to the strongest sign of Jacob’s maturity: his blessing of others. The first thing Jacob did after arriving in Egypt was bless Pharaoh (47:7, 10). Although Pharaoh was the highest person on earth, he was under Jacob’s blessing hand. According to Hebrews 7:7, “the lesser is blessed by the greater.” Thus, the fact that Jacob blessed Pharaoh was a proof that he was greater than Pharaoh. After Jacob had been ushered into Pharaoh’s presence, he did not speak to him in a polite, political way. He stretched forth his hand and blessed him. This is absolutely different from human culture and religion. As Jacob was leaving Pharaoh’s presence, he blessed him again.
Blessing is the overflow of life, the overflow of God through someone’s maturity in life. In order to bless others, we must be filled to the brim with life so that life overflows to them. (Gen. 48:8-20). (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1201, 1210-1211)
Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 93
