When Belief Becomes a Fact

Scripture: Simeon and Levi are two of a kind. They are men of violence and injustice ... Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout Israel. Genesis 49:5,7

Observation: As Jacob speaks his final blessings over his sons, this is what he says of Simeon and Levi. It is a two-fold prophesy.

First, Simeon and Levi will not be granted their own tribal lands. This comes to pass. Simeon is granted a land that is entirely within the grant of Judah, and for all intents they never occupy it, but rather are simply absorbed into the tribe of Judah. Levi, as the designated tribe of priests, is explicitly excluded from receiving a designated grant, and instead all Levites are scattered throughout the nation so that priests can be everywhere.

Second, the less obvious prophesy is that there WILL be a land of Israel! The Lord promised Canaan to Abraham, reaffirmed that to Isaac, and again to Jacob. Now, upon his deathbed, Jacob is completely removed from Canaan, living in a foreign land, with his entire family of ~100 people, relocated and certainly destined to be here a while due to both the famine and the position of Joseph, and yet ... Jacob pronounces there will absolutely be an entire nation called Israel.

Jacob spent his entire life trying to make his own way. His every action was about advancing his life, his prosperity, his family. He worked to "make it." But now, in the end, he declares with a faith that is so great that even in the face of events that look the least likely to produce the desired outcome than at any point in his life, God's promise will be fulfilled. He is so sure, he discusses it as a contextual condition of a completely different conversation, as if it were already true.

The family inheritance of the land of Canaan is no longer a hope, or desire, or thought, or concept, or belief ... it is a certain fact.

Application: I have acknowledged this before ... I have tried too much to make my own way. I have sought my goals, and worked to achieve my own good outcomes. I have wrestled with God ... and now I walk with a limp.

I desire this next level of faith, whereby I simply know that an outcome I believe will be is actually a factual certainty. I would love to know that hopes for the future could be discussed in past tense. I want to lean into God's promises as Jacob did in the end.

Prayer: Lord, I trust in you and I believe in you. May my faith grow so strong, and your word become so clear, that the hopes and trust and belief are as materially real to me as the desk I sit at. Amen.