The Book of Genesis
Day 451
Ge 49:20
"Bread from Asher shall be rich, And he shall yield royal dainties.
The tribe of Asher
would be greatly blessed in their inheritance. They will settle in the very
rich seacoast land north of Mt Carmel. They would be famous for their olives
and olive oil, yielding royal dainties. Later, Moses would bless them in a
similar way in De 33:24,25 “And of Asher he said: "Asher is most blessed
of sons; Let him be favored by his brothers, And let him dip his foot in oil.”
Your sandals shall be iron and bronze; As your days, so shall your strength
be.’
The oil a
reference to the olives in Jacob’s original blessing, and the iron and bronze
sandals perhaps a reference to a tribe that will be entrenched in their
territory and not forced to move. Yes, this tribe was extremely blessed by God!
But then, all the
tribes were blessed as they entered their assigned territories in the Promised
Land, and let us not forget that ALL tribes were given this warning from God:
De 8:10 "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD
your God for the good land which He has given you. 11 "Beware that you do not forget the
LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes
which I command you today,”
And of course we
all know, that the abundance of the Promised Land was taken away from Asher and all the other tribes because
they indeed turned away from the Lord. I gotta tell you this comparison between
the abundance of early Israel, and especially the blessing of Asher reminds me
of the United States of America.
There has never
been a richer nation in the history of the world. We live in a fertile land,
and have never had to move due to being conquered by other nations. We have
been strong and prosperous, extremely blessed of God! But it seems that as a
nation, we no longer bless God in return. He is far from our thoughts in that
we do not keep His commandments.
As a nation, and
even in the church we have gone our own way. We have made a mockery of the
institution that God loves (marriage) We give no thought to keeping the
marriage bed undefiled as fornication and adultery have almost become second
nature. We have muddled our God-ordained roles as men and women in leadership,
and sexuality. Resulting in the
acceptance of homosexuality and an
outbreak of gender confusion.
Lives of unborn babies, made in the image of God have been tossed away
like garbage through legalized abortion.
We have turned
God’s created order on its ear!
Have you ever
considered that the latest rounds of “bomb cyclones” in our nation’s midsection
may be a judgment from God? Is it
possible that God is trying to get our attention regarding our disruption of
His created order, by giving us some creation disorder of His own? Is He trying to draw us to repentance for
what we have done to His created order?
As a nation or the
church, we can ignore these occurrences and continue living as we please, or we
can use them as a catalyst for repentance, fasting, with godly sorrow over the sins of our
nation.
Lord have mercy on
the land! Awaken us! Revive us! Make us a place like Asher again, where the
Olive Oil of your sweet Holy Spirit flows once more!
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