Could it be possible to believe some, but not all of the Word, concerning Jesus. As a father, I want to encourage all the Dads to believe and live by every word the Bible speaks in regard to Jesus. In Luke 24:25, we read, “Who were slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.” One father was asked by the world ruler of his day, and in light of who he was talking to, it is noteworthy.
Genesis 47:7-9 - “Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and presented him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh asked Jacob, How old are you? Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and they have not attained to those of the life of my fathers in their pilgrimage.”
What if your son or daughter brought you before the King of kings? What would you have to say? For Jacob, that day his memories rose up before him like a panoramic screen. We cannot see baseball or basketball during the shutdown but we all know that in life every quarter and inning must be played. One day you will face what could be called the final out in your last few seconds. You may need more than a buzzer-beater or a walk-off home run. What is most important is that you can look back on life with less melancholy in your voice than Jacob had in his voice before the ruler of the world.
HOW OLD ARE YOU? For Jacob looking back, life may not have turned out as he expected. He became a welfare case in Egypt. What he had attained had been wiped out by the great famine. A famine that his son, Joseph, had seen and ultimately led to him being sold by his brothers to slave traders who bargained him off in Egypt when he was only a teenager. Funny how life comes at you so fast, especially when you are young. Now the question is being asked, “Jacob, HOW OLD ARE YOU?”.
He was a long way from home, and his bones would be shipped back to the land he loved and longed for; but, for now, he is living off the state in Egypt. He was 130 years old, and he told Pharaoh, “Few and evil have the days of my life been”. This is Jacob. Do you remember how his life began? He had outlived both his wives, Rachel and Leah. He actually courted Rachel for seven years, which was longer than this marriage.
There is an undertone of pathos in his thoughts and memories in that evil memories were also a part of his 130 years. He had begun his life journey with a stolen inheritance, and now it is all gone. I am sure that he must have, at times, felt he had finally gotten what he deserved. You can hear in his voice that he knows his journey is coming to an end. It seems to me that he is owning up to the dishonesty of his youth, i.e., the heartache he caused his father and even his brother. We have to admit that our most painful memories are our own doing. Here is a father who is looking back because there are not many years to look forward to. Have you ever met bitter old men, fathers who have abandoned their children and lived selfishly from lust to bust? HOW OLD ARE YOU?
Paul wrote these words about immaturity, 1 Corinthians 13:11 - “It’s like this: when I was a child I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I became a man my thoughts grew far beyond those of my childhood, and now I have put away the childish things”.
DAD, HOW OLD ARE YOU? The way to become a great father is to believe everything and live by everything the Bible says about Jesus.
GOD BLESS ALL THE FATHERS TODAY! WE LOVE YOU AND WE BELIEVE IN YOU!
Your loving pastors,
Cleddie & GayNell Keith