Genesis Chapter 48

15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
— may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
upon the earth.

This is the blessing given by Jacob to Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph's sons. In this, he refers to God as his shepherd through all his life. This is a change from the man he once was, the man who relied on his wits to get by, being tricky and scheming, and always trying to get one over on everyone else. It took years for Jacob to recognise God's hand in his life, for him to give the praise and thanks to God, to know that He was the one watching over Jacob.

Sometimes it can take years for us to recognise God's hand in our lives. We can go through life regardless of God, never giving Him a thought, doing what we want, when we want, without regard to the "rightness" of what we are doing. Yet God is there with us regardless, He sees everything we do, knows the troubles we go through, the pain, the hopes, the joys, and He has counted our tears and placed each and every single one of them in a bottle and recorded every one of them.

What kind of God is this, who takes such care over each and every one of us, even when we totally ignore Him and go our own way? When we refuse to even acknowledge that there is a God, He is there by our side, keeping track of all that we do, and He is there crying with us, laughing with us, caring for us no matter where we are, or what we are doing.

He is the good shepherd, the one looking after his flock no matter who they are, where they are whether they know there is a shepherd there or not, or even if they don't care whether there is a shepherd. And I thank God that He does.