40_Nothing but the grace of God Gen 47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? 9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. Ps 119:54 ¶ Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. When Colonel Samuel Logan Brengle of the Salvation Army was once introduced as "the great Colonel Brengle," he wrote in his journal: "If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most gracious in helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him. He does use me. But I am conscious that He uses me, and that it’s not of me that the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing without the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, he used it, and the moment he throws it aside it becomes only old used iron. Oh, that I may never lose sight of this." These words remind us of the central truth of the Christian life: we are nothing apart from the grace of God. This truth is beautifully illustrated in the life of Jacob, particularly in Genesis 47:7-9, where Jacob meets Pharaoh. Jacob and his family had entered Egypt, seeking refuge from a devastating famine. Despite his earlier wealth, Jacob arrives as a refugee, a man diminished by years of hardship and loss. In stark contrast, Pharaoh sits as the ruler of the most powerful kingdom of that era, surrounded by wealth and abundance. Yet, when these two men meet, Jacob does something extraordinary—he blesses Pharaoh. How could this frail, battered man have the spiritual authority to bless the most powerful monarch in the world? The answer lies in the grace of God. Jacob’s life, as he himself admits, was “short and evil” compared to his fathers, Abraham and Isaac. His days had been marked by struggle, sorrow, and the consequences of his own poor decisions. From his early days, Jacob’s life was riddled with conflict and deceit. He tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright and deceived his father to steal the blessing. These actions earned him his brother’s wrath, forcing him to flee to his uncle Laban’s home, where he would spend years in toil and manipulation. Even in Laban’s household, Jacob’s life was far from peaceful. He loved Rachel but was tricked into marrying Leah as well. There was rivalry among his wives and deep strife within his family. Much later, his sons, born into this environment, sold their brother Joseph into slavery and lied about it for nearly two decades. On top of all this, Jacob endured the loss of his beloved wife Rachel and