It all depends on your perspective...

In Genesis 47, when Pharaoh asks Jacob how old he is, Jacob's reply (verse 9) is, "My years have been few and difficult. I have travelled this earth for 130 hard years."  It's true that Jacob didn't have an easy life. While much of the hardship was due to his own fault and lack of character, it still must have been hard to flee from home because you'd made your brother angry enough to want to kill you. It must have been awful to be deceived by your father in law on your wedding day. How devastating it must have been to think that your favourite son had been killed by wild animals. And now, in your old age, to be a refugee, leaving your own country because of famine.

But in the next chapter, when Jacob is blessing his grandsons, he sees his life and sees God from a completely different perspective. In Genesis 48: 15 he says, "May the Lord, who has been my Shepherd all my life to this very day, the Angel who has rescued me from all harm, bless these boys."

Yes, his life has known hardships and struggles, but now when he looks back at the entirety of his life, he is able to say, God has always been with me, He has always taken care of me,  He has protected me from all kinds of harm. Remember that Jacob and his sons after him had been shepherds their whole lives. They knew what it meant to care for sheep: the investment of time, and the willingness to put your own life on the line to protect them from attack.

We all know the famous words of David, when he wrote in Psalm 23 that the Lord was his shepherd. We know the famous passage in John chapter 10, where Jesus describes Himself as the good Shepherd. But here already, in the very first book of the Bible, we find Jacob acknowledging that God has shepherded him throughout his whole lifetime.

Yes, Jacob the deceiver, Jacob the rebel, Jacob who described his life as, "130 hard years," is the same man who, seventeen years later, when he chooses not to focus on the hard and the negative, can say in all sincerity that he's always known the protection of Jehovah Rohi, the Lord our Shepherd. It all depends on your perspective.