S) "28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him."
Genesis 49:28 (NASB)
O) Israel was literally on his death bed. He gathered all twelve of his sons together to bless them before he passed away. The blessings don't all sound very, well, blessing. In fact, some, like those for Simeon and Levi, sound a little more like a curse. Others seem to be exactly in the middle of those two, like that for Gad. But through all twelve, and in summary in this verse, we see how Israel approached his sons as individuals. He was acutely aware of who each of his sons were. He knew the details of their personalities and histories. He was familiar, and he prayed blessings over them accordingly.
A) Sometimes I have a tendency to want to pray for each of my kids in the same way. Not just with the same sort of "outline" as I pray, but more exactly the same. For instance, if I pray for my son to have wisdom, I sometimes feel guilty that I didn't pray that for my daughters as well. After all, who doesn't want wise daughters? What I need to remember, though, is that God may very well be helping to guide my prayers according to His will, by the Holy Spirit working in me as I pray. As I consider who each of my children are, as individual people, thinking of their strengths and weaknesses, their desires and fears, and their character and faith in God (where they are so far, as they are still young); I should be praying different things for each child. What my son needs is not the same as what my older daughter needs. Similarly, what I should ask God to do for my younger daughter, maybe I should not ask Him to do for my older daughter. There will still be things that I pray the same for each of them, but I will also submit myself to be used by God, to pray for them as He might lead me, as individuals with different needs and different plans, according to what God the Father wants for them.
P) Father, if You are half as good to my children, as You have been to me, then I will die a happy man. That still seems like a woefully narrow understanding of goodness, though. What is half of eternal goodness, except eternal goodness still? I want to pray for Your will to be done in the lives of my children, and I want to be an instrument in Your hands as I pray. Lead me to pray more directly in line with Your will for them, Father God. Open my eyes and my ears, so that I am not wasting my breath, praying for things that are outside of Your plans for them. In prayer and in everything else, help me see them as individuals. Make me more and more aware of the details of who they are, so that I can be the dad you intend me to be for them. I want to reflect some portion of fatherhood to them, that You are to all of us. Be glorified. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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