We are only one small part of God’s great tapestry of life

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The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is we are only one small part of God’s great tapestry of life.

• Genesis 47-48: The story of Jacob comes to a close and the story of the Hebrews in Egypt begins. Jacob bids a deathbed farewell to Joseph and blesses his two grandsons by Joseph.
• Matthew 24: Remain diligent and vigilant in your work and in your faith until the end of your life. Do not grow weary or disheartened before you reach the end, because there is no reward in that.
• Psalms 24: We are part of God’s creation, and we belong to him in the same way that all of the rest of his creation, by which we benefit in our daily lives, also belongs to him. It is only on loan to us for the duration of our lives and we should be grateful.
• Proverbs 24: Be wise and be able to recognize and differentiate the wise from the foolish. Be diligent in your work and do not quit before the job is done.

In today’s reading in Genesis, we see the culmination of Joseph’s steadfastness through his previous life of suffering. He holds fast to the end and is reunited with his father and gets to see him bless his children.

Then in Matthew and Proverbs we get the same message: remain diligent in your faith and your work until the end, so that you can obtain your reward and not lose out.

In Psalms we are reminded that all we have in this world isn’t really ours to begin with. It all belongs to God and is merely on loan to us.

When we put those three things together it makes for a powerful lesson. Suffering is never an enjoyable experience, but we are not owed an enjoyable experience. All experiences are what we make of them, and our job is to keep our eyes on and our faith in God through whatever we are experiencing, whether it be suffering or joy. When suffering, we call out for help and trust that God will see us through and comfort us. When we are experiencing joy in our circumstances we should express gratitude to God.

In all circumstances we should be mindful of the fact that we only have knowledge of one little part of God’s great plan. None of us can see it all. Only God can. However, when we love our neighbor as ourself we come close to understanding it. In the words of Ram Dass, “We are all just walking each other home.” When we keep each other company in our suffering or our joy, when we share our stories with each other, we come close to seeing the whole vast tapestry of God’s story, of which we are all a part.

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.

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