Both the struggles and the victories are in God’s plan for His people, as we see in this lesson.
It’s amazing how different children in the same family can be. So with Jacob’s sons. “Reuben,…my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength,…unstable as water, you shall not excel” (Gen 49:3-4). Oh, the burden of a great potential, squandered through double-mindedness! The NT Jacob (James is the Greek) writes “to the twelve tribes” (Jas 1:1) and says, If you don’t want to be like sea waves, “ask in faith, with no doubting” (Jas 1:6). And then, “Simeon and Levi,…instruments of cruelty” (v 5) would benefit from James’ words (1:19-20) to be “slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Judah has a lengthy blessing we do well to read, especially as James (2:13) recaps Judah’s life (and Jesus’ victory, too): “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Then Zebulun “shall become a haven for ships” (Gen 49:13), and James (2:8) says your life will be a haven for the needy, when you “love your neighbor as yourself.” “Issachar,” said Jacob, “is a strong donkey, lying down between two burdens;…he bowed his shoulder to bear a burden” (Gen 49:14-15). He knows how to both rest and labor, the link between faith and works (Jas 2:14-26). “Dan,” we read, “shall be a serpent by the way” (Gen 49:17). Yes, says James (3:7-8), “Every kind of beast…has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Watch that tongue! Gad follows Dan, and “a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last” (Gen 49:19, KJV). James 3:16-17 explains: “Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits.” And that’s how we overcome!