Royal Screw Ups Are Glorious

Today’s reading: Psalm 105: 1-6

Every time I see references to the “seed of Abraham,” my thoughts turn immediately to the infamous dysfunction of Abraham’s very next generation. It is interesting  that a man whose grandchildren repeatedly tortured their brother would become such a revered figure in The Bible.

I often find myself trying to decide whether our modern world is more unjust than Jacob’s. I’m sure I’ve opined about that in these very devotionals before, and, if I’ve done it more than once, I’m certain I’ve contradicted myself.

Truth is, it’s a tough call.

It’s also a depressing thing to contemplate.  My faith in humanity always suffers through such thoughts.

But today’s Psalm is worth keeping in mind when I fall into these negative meditations —  the kind the devil thrives upon.

“Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders and the judgements of his mouth.” (Verse 5)

That verse leads me to wonder about the etymology of the vulgar-but-popular phrase “screwed up royally.” I’ve never looked up how  those words came to be,  but I think that’s one curiosity to which I’m best ignorant. My explanation is the perfect one, no matter whether it’s true.

Sure Jacob’s brothers treated him to decades of  unbelievable cruelty.  But, in the end, the whole family discovered that every member, in fact, had God’s royal blood in them.

In other words, the brothers were royal screw ups.

Remembering that helps me focus on the ending of Jacob’s glorious story (and of all the other Biblical tales of suffering). That’s the thing that God, and today’s Psalmist, want me to meditate upon.

It just took time (which is meaningless anyway in relation to the eternal goodness of God), but, in the end, God cleared up the dysfunction in Jacob’s family in his own glorious way.

And, by the promises He gave to mankind with the life and death of Jesus, God will likewise reveal (eventually) the royalty in all of the screw-ups that make our own lives a challenge.

Thanks be to God for the eternal victory His forgiveness always brings.