Gen.48.14 But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. So his right hand was on the head of Ephraim, the younger boy, and his left hand was on the head of Manasseh, the older. (NLT)<\/p>\n
Jacob is in the business of blessing the sons of Joseph. As he does so, he intentionally crosses his hands and gives Ephraim the firstborn\u2019s blessing. Traditionally, the right hand carried the greater honor for the firstborn. By crossing his hands, Jacob was saying, \u201cEphraim is not next in line, but I shift him to a new position.\u201d This was favor\u2014God granting what was not deserved. (Dr Charles M.)<\/p>\n
Our God operates in the same pattern. Even now, He is making divine shiftings, placing His people in positions they did not earn or qualify for. We may lack seniority, credentials, or economic advantage, yet God crosses His hands and says, \u201cI move you from the back to the front.\u201d Such a shift lifts us from insignificance to honor until we look back and say, \u201cLord, this is Your doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes we find ourselves lingering at the back\u2014a place of waiting, obscurity, and slow growth. It is where faith is stretched and patience is tested. Yet God promises a divine shift, a movement from the back to the front. Ephraim expected only a simple blessing, but God surprised him. The same God can shift us into new realms of favor. May we experience that shift today in Jesus\u2019 Name.<\/p>\n
Further readings
\nPsa. 110:1
\nPsa. 118:16
\nMat 20:16<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude4fBlessed Day\ud83d\ude4f
\nwww.pastoralcarecenter.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gen.48.14 But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. So his right hand was on the head of Ephraim, the younger boy, and his left hand was on the head of Manasseh, the older. (NLT) Jacob is in the business of blessing the sons of Joseph….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6878,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876\/revisions\/6878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastoralcarecenter.org\/newsletter\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}