This week’s reading: Genesis 27:41- 28:22
Hi Friends,
We left off last week with Jacob, once again, deceiving his way to obtaining the family fortune. That is, he tricks his father, Isaac, into granting him the blessing of the birthright. Legally, Jacob is now the head of the family, once his dad passes away. So what does he do? He runs away in fear of his brother, Esau! We will read about Jacob’s journey to his mother’s homeland, and his amazing encounter with the God of his fathers. We are in Genesis chapter 27, starting at verse 41 and going all the way through chapter 28, ending with verse 22. I’m excited to get into this voyage, so that we may learn how, we don’t know what we don’t know, until we know we don’t know it. LOL! I will explain below…for now listen to the blessing Isaac bestows on his son, Jacob, this time on purpose:
“So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him: ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father, Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.’” Gen 28:1-4 NIV
We cannot fight God’s Will. After discovering the deceit of Jacob, Esau is furious to say the least. He basically tells everyone that, “Once our father dies, so will Jacob!” Rebekah hears this rumor, and once again, acts quickly to save her beloved son. Yet she does show her love for Esau too. She actually says, “Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” (Gen 27:43-45) She does care about both her boys. She just knows what God promised and is seeking to work with God’s Will to make it come true. Because of Esau’s anger, Rebecca feels the need to protect Jacob and so she runs to Isaac with another one of her plans. She tells him how upset she is with Esau, as she reminds Isaac of his two Canaanite wives, probably noting how, “They do not follow the one true God, you know, the one that appeared to you twice, Isaac?” She most likely continued with, “I really do not want Jacob to follow in Esau’s foolish footsteps. Why don’t you send Jacob to my family to find a godly wife from there, just like you found me there too?” Note: the Bible never says Isaac became angry at Rebekah for her hand in Jacob’s deception. Isaac most likely understood that he could not fight God’s Will and resigned to the fact that Jacob really was the right choice for the future of this family. And so here he does not argue with his wife. Instead he agrees that Jacob should indeed go, and calls Jacob to his side. Again we see his surrender to God’s Will in the fact that he, willingly now, grants Jacob his rightful blessing of the promise that God had first given to his own father, Abraham. He realized that God desires to fulfill the pledge, to expand Abraham’s descendants, through Jacob and says, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” (Gen 28:3-4) This was huge! The promise given to Abraham, then passed down to Isaac, was now given to Jacob. God’s Plan was moving along nicely, despite human’s effort to change it. This should do two things for us. First, it should give us relief! As I have said before, when God has a Plan, no one and nothing can prevent it from coming true. Second, hopefully it will lead us to surrender to God’s Will more readily! Once we know what it is God desires for us to do, we will stop fighting it quicker, and simply obey. There are times when God’s Will is obvious, yet we, in our self-centered humanism, will deny it and try to do whatever we want instead. And often, that only leads to more problems, instead of resolving anything. A quick and simple example would be when my husband and I have an argument. Almost always, God will put it on my heart to go apologize, and yes, even when it was not my fault. You see, God’s Will is always that we love one another, right? So to refuse to obey Him in this example, only leads to more problems. Not only in my relationship with the husband I so love, but within me too! I usually say “death comes upon me” as I begin to think horrible, and false, thoughts about Joe and behave accordingly. A momentary fight can turn into days of not speaking to each other…and that’s just sad! Life is short. Time is precious, and to waste it because…because what? I don’t want to humble myself and make peace? Or in other words, I don’t want to follow God’s Will? Again, sad! By God’s Grace, I have learned, and continue to learn, to just go say I’m sorry and return to the peace and joy that I really want. You see, very often, we know what God wants us to do, yet like Isaac, we try to get our own way instead. But praise God, His Will will be done. If you ever wonder if you have stepped out of God’s Holy Will, pay attention to see if you sene those “death symptoms” come upon you. Things like confusion andfrustration, depression and anxiety, anger and bitterness, an unforgiving attitude…you know what I mean, right? Things that are completely opposite of the love, joy and peace God desires for us to live by, and experience. You see, knowing God’s Will is not as complicated as we sometimes make it. Ok, perhaps we cannot know every single detail of His Will, but we can know enough to decide whether we will follow Him or bow down to our old MMI person we used to be. Want another quick example of knowing God’s Will? I have been working, seriously working, on losing weight this year. So when that old Jezebel reminds me about the cookies in the pantry, and starts trying to convince me to go eat that sleeve of Oreos??? Obviously that is not God’s Will for me, and to be honest, it is not even the will of my New Person who really wants, and is ready, to get healthy once and for all, for God’s Glory. Again, we complicate life by listening to the wrong voices, my Friends. Never forget those three real enemies we have, who are always trying to move us towards self-destruction. While God most certainly is complex, because we will never fully understand this God who is above and beyond all He has created, we can come to know Him, and certainly we can understand His general Will. (see Eph 3:19) Jesus said it best, of course, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (Jn 13:34) When all is said and done, loving each other is always God’s Will. This may take on many different shades, but certainly to surrender to God’s Will is the most loving thing you and I can do. Why? Because choosing to obey what God wants for us will naturally lead us to love, which gives us a more fulfilling life. Learning to imitate His Love and Grace is what is most important to God. And bringing His one and only Begotten Son from the line of Jacob, not Esau’s, was something Isaac had to yield to. And here, it seems like he has finally done so.
Too little, too late. Obediently, Jacob leaves home and heads to his uncle’s hometown. Meanwhile, Esau finally sees how he disappointed his father and mother by marrying the two Canaanite women. He is probably seeing for the first time the importance of having a wife who might be more open to follow the God of Abraham, and so he runs out, once again, to try to fix his own bad choices. Esau goes to his uncle Ishmael and marries one of his daughters. So what’s wrong with that? My STUDY Bible puts it this way, “As Ishmaelites, these women were grandchildren of Abraham. But they were also excluded from the line of the promise, so Esau was really doing himself no good.” (Quest Study Bible p39) Recall that Ishmael was sent away from Abraham so that he would not inherit God’s promise? What can we learn here? When we make an error, because we will, we must seek God and His Will, and NOT try to fix things on our own. Our bright ideas usually get us deeper into trouble, and certainly do not reverse our poor decisions. There is a great, and sad, example of this in the Book of Numbers 14:26-45. After the 12 spies Moses sent out to scout the Promised Land come back, 10 of them give a discouraging report, while two of them, Caleb and Joshua, are still confident that God will help them just like He promised. We know the story, the majority rules, and the Israelites display their lack of Faith in God and refuse to enter into their destiny. The 10 spies are killed in a plague right there and then, which convicts the rest of the people that they have seriously messed up! So then they try to fix their own error. They decide to go do what God had previously told them to do But God had already passed judgment on this people. He had already given them the 40 year sentence they deserved. He had already said that this generation would not go into the Promised Land, but that God would give their children the blessing instead. But stubborn, MMI people that we are, they went ahead with their plans anyway. Go read what happens if you are not familiar with the story. Spoiler alert: it does NOT go well for them! This is Esau here. And this is you and me too when we try to go it alone in this life. We mess up, but then think we can fix it. We, we, we! MMI. See the problem? I really do not think Esau ever does see his problem. He still thinks life is about himself and he has the right to make his own choices, apart from his parents, and certainly apart from God. We can learn good lessons from everyone in the Bible, and I hope we are learning from Esau that MMI is not the way to obtain the blessings of God! Once again, I will use that powerful word “Surrender”! This is how Jesus lived His earthly life. We hear it clearly at the end of His journey on this planet. In the Garden of Gethsemane, as He begins His Passion, His suffering for you and me, Jesus surrenders for the last time. Hear His beautiful words, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Lk 22:42) These words are beautiful because they clearly display a heart that completely belongs to the Father. A heart that completely trusts in His Plan. A heart that desires to follow God’s Will, no matter what. A heart that loves the Father with all He’s got. May we learn, and continue to learn, how to imitate this glorious life that pleases the Father and brings about God’s Holy Will.
Side note: Holy Will vs Permissive Will. Just a little aside to explain that God’s Will will be done, because God works with what He is given. You see, there is God’s Holy Will, which only Jesus has ever lived completely, fully obeying God with every thought, word and action He ever had. But then, because God knows we are imperfect humans, there is God’s Permissive Will. While He desires all people to follow every command and direction from the Holy Spirit, He knows we won’t, and makes provision for our immaturity and sinfulness. And so He permits certain things to happen, always with the Hope that it will lead each person to His side in surrender. Sometimes this Hope is realized. Sadly, many times it is not. God allows us to make many decisions on our own, and certainly the choice of whether we will be His forevermore, is one that is in our hands. Of course, God does not abandon us to choose this on our own. He pursues us. He blesses us. He woo’s us even…yet we must decide. Once we do make that eternal choice to simply surrender to His Love and Grace, we become born again. When we trust God the Father and place our Faith in God the Son, God the Holy Spirit comes to live in our spirit and we are instantly transformed into His beloved holy child. We go from sinner to saint because of His Grace. Now this does not mean we act like it, but our identity is changed forevermore, and Heaven is our eternal destination. By God’s Grace, we need never know the devastation of hell and existing apart from God, ever. Yet we are children, yes? Once our heart is transformed from death to Life, our spirit must grow up! The more we surrender to God’s Will, agreeing that we desire to love Him with all we’ve got and love our neighbor as we love ourselves, the more mature we become. And the more spiritually mature we become, the more our soul will submit to what God thinks, feels and wants, instead of trying to live life like we used to according to what we think, feel and want. See it? Then our bodies, that is our actions, will correspond. We will begin to obey God more and more, displaying what He desires…that is, obeying His Holy Will. But in the meantime, we continue living by His Permissive Will, where God works all things together for us who love Him and are called by His purpose. (Ro 8:28) What’s that purpose? To love God with all we’ve got and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Right back to the core of what helps us grow up. See the lovely cycle we are in if we choose to agree with God’s Holy Will? It starts with God’s Love, which moves us to want to love the way He does, which leads us to live love. God’s Will will be done. Whether it is His Holy Will or Permissive Will, God is Sovereign and in total control, my Friends. We get to choose whether we will surrender to Him or not. And this is something our friend Jacob is still learning.
Jacob’s eyes are opened. We continue reading about Jacob’s journey towards his mother’s relatives. On his way, night falls and he decides to stop to rest. There God gives him an amazing dream. Listen: “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God, were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Gen 28:12-15) I am sure Jacob has heard all the stories about how Abraham was visited by God, and even how God had appeared to Isaac, but this is the first time Jacob has an encounter with God himself. Jacob wakes up from the incredible dream and says, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (Gen 28:16) Jacob rightfully responds with awe, as the fear of the Lord becomes real to him, and in the morning, he sets up an alter of sorts and makes a pledge to God. You see, Jacob didn’t know what he didn’t know, until God appears to him in that dream and makes Himself known. This happens to all of us if we really think about it. We may grow up hearing about God and being taken to church services by our parents or other family members, but until we know, for ourselves, how mighty and loving our God is, we really do not know that “the Lord is in this place.” And if we do not know this reality for ourselves, then we will continue to live life as if it is all about MMI. We all must have a real and a deep encounter with God. Going to a physical church is wonderful. Listening to Bible-based sermons is helpful. But if we do not have a personal and intimate experience with God, Himself? How can we place our Faith in God? I think the major problem with the “Church,” that is with everyone who calls themselves Christians and proclaims to believe in God, is that their knowledge of Him is only in theory. God is a REAL Being. The most amazing and powerful of Beings. Unlike anyone who has ever been created, angels and humans alike, God is not only real, He is reality. To not know Him personally, is to not know who we are and how we should live our lives in order to have that peace and joy we truly crave. God is the Source of all that is Good, so apart from Him, we cannot live that fulfilling and satisfying life we all desire. (see Jas 1:17 & Jn 15:5) God must open our eyes…and we must be willing to allow Him to open them. Sometimes, as with my case, God must allow the unthinkable to happen in order to bring us to the end of ourselves. When Beckie fell into that first comatose state, I had nothing else. All my humanly resources were exhausted. I hit Rock bottom, as they say…and yet, it was only when I hit the Rock, Jesus, there at the bottom of all that awful MMI thinking, that I found the only one who could help me. I found my Lord and Savior and He granted me the Solution to my greatest problem: sin. Like Jacob, once I realized that God was in this place, I surrendered my life to Him, and He granted me Eternity. All the promises of the Bible became real to me. No longer just a nice idea, God and His Love and Grace became the power by which I lived here, as well as forevermore. God helped me through trial after trial, and when my Baby Girl passed away, His tangible Presence continued, and continues still, to keep me moving forward through this life, as I await the next one where I will be reunited with my Angel Pie, and be in the full Presence of my King. It starts with allowing God to open our eyes. When God does this for Jacob, his life changes forever. He goes from being that Deceiver to being a humble and victorious Child of God…but I am getting ahead of our story. For now, see this great encounter of Jacob’s as the beginning of his rebirth. He certainly still has a lot to learn about following God’s Will, but here he acknowledges the God of his forefathers and begins to seek Him. And now his real journey begins.
Jacob makes a vow in response to God’s Grace. When we begin to seriously seek God, we begin to test this new way of living. We are still timid children after all, and so we hear Jacob make a promise to God as he says, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Gen 28:20-22) God has already promised this very thing to Jacob, yet Jacob is still not sure if he heard God right. So he says, basically, “Ok if this is what You really will do for me, then I will confirm that You are my God and will always show my gratitude to Your Love and Grace by giving You a tenth of everything You give me.” I do not think Jacob is saying IF You will do this, like he doesn’t believe God will hold on to His promise, but more like, “Because this is what You have promised, I am going to trust You to bring it to reality in my life and then I will honor You by responding in Faith by returning a portion of what You have given me.” For Jacob this is a big leap of Faith. He has heard his mother say over and over again that God had made this prophecy over his life, and now he was hearing it straight from God and responds with awe and his our pledge to glorify God. This is the answer God is seeking from every heart. God does not provide for our Salvation when we respond. God has already given us His one and only Begotten Son. Jesus has already bought our Salvation. But when we receive Jesus, then it is real to us and our reply should be, “Lord, I give You my heart and You will be my God, and moreover, I will display my gratitude by returning a portion of what You grant me.” Yes the tithe. God doesn’t need our money but He wants our devotion. Jacob is devoting his life to God here, trusting God to be faithful. We too can trust God’s Faithfulness. This doesn’t always mean getting what we want, but it does mean getting what God knows is best for us here, as we continue our journey into Paradise to be with Him forevermore. Surrender. This is vital for the Christian walk. I know the more I surrender, and the quicker I do so, my life only gets more fulfilling. Yes, it hurts my old Prideful Self, but that is a good thing indeed, because that makes me more humble, which transforms me more and more into the image of Jesus. This is the Abundant Life, My friends, and I do hope you want it. If you do, won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
