Honesty And Humility

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

HONESTY AND HUMILITY

Gen 27:30-38

30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing." 32 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau." 33 Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him — and indeed he will be blessed!" 34 When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me — me too, my father!" 35 But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." 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!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?" 37 Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?" 38 Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.

NIV

More tales from this dysfunctional family. Now here comes Esau and when Isaac found out the truth of the deception of Jacob he trembled violently. How could he have been deceived by Jacob and now it is too late for he gave him the firstborn blessing and there is but the second blessing available. This is difficult to understand that Isaac could not give two great blessings to each of his sons, but that must have been the way of life at those times. Now Esau is filled with rage at his brother, and we will see next that his rage turns to seek revenge. So we have seen Esau sell his birthright because of hunger, then get outsmarted, or deceived by his brother for the blessing, and at that moment Esau wept aloud. What can we learn from this? We think humility may be at the top of all lessons regarding living within the family of God. We think that honesty should always be high on that list of attitudes within the family. We have been taught by our Lord that it is more blessed to give than receive which simply means sharing with one another the blessings of the Lord. This also means that we all can have the same blessing, unlike Isaac's belief that he only had one good blessing for his firstborn. Living in harmony should also be high on our list of attitudes. There will be no harmony between Esau and Jacob for many years. Hurt can become anger which breeds contempt and can turn to being revengeful. Living in harmony with humility, honesty, and love can only bring peace, goodness, and blessing from God. We wonder if that will ever truly exist within the church, but then again we are but mere humans with all our flaws so it might be too much to expect the perfect family of God, or church this side of heaven. Yet, we can hope, and if that is going to ever be, it must start with us. Let us always look toward the goodness being humble and being a blessing by God to others.