Blessing

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

BLESSING

Gen 27:18-29

18 He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?" 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. 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not." 22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied. 25 Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me." 27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. 28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness — an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

NIV

As we have already dealt with the deception in this somewhat dysfunctional family, so we should ponder the blessing. However, thinking about how this family seemed different in that the father favored his son, Esau, while the mother would do anything, including lying to her husband to benefit her favorite son, Jacob. This is favoritism at the highest level which gives us confidence in our God. We have both comfort and joy knowing that God does not show favoritism, as he loves us all just the same. We could think because there is a disparage in the lifestyles of us believers, with some being far richer than others, and some carrying heavier burdens than others with health issues or other situations in life. Yet the love of God remains the same for all of his children. We can always be assured his love is steadfast and he will never leave us or forsake us. We need to remember whatever this life is about, one thing we ponder on is that this life is simply practice for the life to come. What matters is that we never stop our love for our God, or allow anything in this life to cause us to doubt him, or question his love for us. As Jacob entered the room of Isaac, smelling like his brother Esau, and gave him a meal and drink, Isaac gave him the firstborn blessing. Our lesson is not in the words of the blessing, although they were prophetic regarding what would happen to Jacob, having those twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. What we should focus on is blessing others. We wonder how many times we bless someone with the goodness of the Lord. How many times do we say, “May God richly bless you, and prosper you in wealth and health"? We know that God loves the other person we encounter, even those who have yet to accept Jesus. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world, that means all mankind, so we know even those who yet have come to Jesus, are loved by God just as he loves us. So why would we not be blessing people? Why would we keep our blessing to ourselves? We have the opportunity to always be blessing others. Blessing them with the goodness of God. We could say that it was the father who blessed his sons, and as such we earthy fathers should bless our children, just as God is our heavenly Father and he blesses all his sons and daughters. Let us use our hearts, souls, and mouths to bless our Lord, and all those who we encounter.