As Jacob comes to the end of his life we will see that he prophesies what will happen to his family in days to come. But here in chapter 48, we saw how Jacob began to set things into order by adopting Manasseh and Ephraim, putting Ephraim above Manasseh, and by giving Joseph the parcel of land in Canaan. But the one thing that was on full display, and some might say, finally, is the faith of Jacob in El Shaddai, God Almighty. If you think about the stories of Jacob, we had more about those evil days then about the triumphs of faith. We have seen weakness and failure, favoritism and selfishness. We were given just a taste of the internal struggles that happen inside a man of faith. But no doubt, there were many. If we are not careful we often assume that the visible failures and flaws of our fellow Christians are all they are. We don’t hear their silent prayers. We don’t see the sins that they struggle with and the faith that is growing in them step-by-step as they walk before God. All we see is that they lied, or they got angry for no reason, or they sinned in some other way. We don’t see the sin so that we might help our brothers and sisters, we see it so that we can accuse and berate them. Satan likes to dehumanize us by accusing us over and over. But Jesus set his people free from the condemnation of the law. Let us not think more highly of ourselves. Let us be honest. We are a mess and only by the grace of God will we make it to heaven. Let us be patient, kind, rejoicing in truth, bearing believing, hoping, and enduring all things. And may we fight the temptation to be envious, arrogant, rude, and boastful. May we fight the urge to insist in our own way, or to be irritable or resentful. May we never rejoice in wrongdoing. May God help us as we walk before God as our fathers did. Let us also remember that we, as Christians, have been adopted into God’s family, by his grace. We have nothing to boast about. He adopted us not the other way around. We were once a part of Satan’s family and we loved it. But God adopted us. Jesus is our brother. Let the truth of God’s adoption sink in. Meditate on this truth. And then give God the glory for the great things he has done.