Today’s Reading: Genesis 27; Genesis 28; Psalm 4; Luke 11
Scripture: Genesis 27 & 28 (excerpts - emphasis added)
Genesis 27
10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you [rather than Esau] his blessing before he dies..."
12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."
13 His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say...
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
20 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"
"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied...
24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.
"I am," he replied.
36 Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!"...
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once... 45 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...
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living."
Genesis 28
8 Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.
Observation: What a messed up family! Rebekah conspires with Jacob to trick her husband, Isaac, into giving the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau. Both Rebekah and Isaac openly favored one son over another and this brought disunity into the home. Jacob's wording in verse 12, "I would appear to be tricking him..." cracks me up. Hah! That's some tricky wording. In verse 13 Rebekah says, "let the curse fall on me." In other words, "I'll take responsibility." But in verse 45, she puts all the blame back on Jacob. Jacob repeatedly lies to his father and in verse 20 even invokes God as part of his deception. Have you no shame, Jacob? Esau blames Jacob not only for this ripoff, but says, "he took my birthright," when it was Esau who willingly traded it away for a bowl of stew. And Esau decides that the appropriate response is to murder his brother which he decides to do once his father passes away. Rebekah manipulates her husband to get Jacob away from Esau's revenge with whiny complaining. And Esau purposefully does the opposite of his father's wished out of spite, marrying a woman that his parents disapproved of. This family is a mess.
And yet God chose to bless the world through these messed up people.
Application: The application is simple: God uses messed up people. That makes me a candidate to be used and blessed by God. (It makes you a candidate too.)
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You choose regular, very imperfect people to work through. You do great things with all kinds of people. I ask You to use me powerfully to do great things.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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