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God’s Blessing Of Prosperity
“There I will make you into a great nation.” (Genesis 46:3)
Dr. Tom Hawkes

We all want a life of blessedness and prosperity. But we usually think that we have to create it for ourselves. Like Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation we work to create moments of blessedness. He wanted the perfect Christmas, but his crazy cousin Eddie showed up, his perfect Christmas tree was destroyed as Eddie’s dog chased a squirrel through it. The Christmas turkey was a burned husk. Worst of all, his Christmas bonus, counted upon to complete his dreamed of swimming pool, turned out to be a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club. 

We all have a little Clark Griswold in us. Striving to produce a blessed life, but falling short. How then should we seek the blessed life? Jacob learned this the hard way: seek it from God! 

Born a heal grabber, a cheater, from the start, Jacob grabbed for the blessed life. He tricked his brother out of his birthright, tricked his father for his blessing, outwitted his father-in-law to gain livestock. Jacob even wrestled with God for a blessing. 

Ironically, Jacob’s greatest period of blessing may well have been his last seventeen years of life in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. There he is reunited with Joseph, whom he had not seen for some twenty-two years. It is an emotional reunion. “Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive’” (Genesis 46:29-30).

In Goshen, Jacob—Israel—experienced great blessings. “Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years” (Genesis 47:27-28).

What part did Jacob play in producing this blessing? He did not arrange for Joseph to become second in command of Egypt. He did not find Joseph. He did not invite himself to Goshen, or carry himself there. He did not produce the abundance in Goshen while Egypt had a severe famine. He did not multiply his family in Goshen. God did it all. God supplied most of this through the work of Joseph, Jacob’s long-lost son, exalted by God to deliver his people. 

While we are called to work diligently in this world, we are not to rely upon our work, but on God’s blessing, to produce a life of God’s prosperity. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). We are called to seek Christ, to follow him, to seek his kingdom and count on him to take care of the blessings. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). 

Even as we look to his hand to bless us in this life, we always look forward, knowing that the best blessings of God are still to come, not in this life, but reserved for us in heaven because of Christ. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:1). 


Jacob finally understood this as well. As his earthly life was ending, he had one last request, that his remains should be transported back to the Promised Land. “Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers” (Genesis 47:29-30). His last request was a statement of faith, a declaration that he believed in God’s promise. That his search for the blessed life would finally only consummate itself with his fathers in heaven. As Calvin commented. “Not even death itself could extinguish the power of their faith.” With his grandfather Abraham, he showed that he was, “Looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

We are created by God to experience prosperity from his hand of blessing. Rather than anxiously striving to produce it for ourselves, may we look to Christ, our Provider, the Exalted Son, to deliver it to us, in his way, according to his timing. “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Today, tomorrow, and forever.