Another Blessing

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

ANOTHER BLESSING

Gen 28:1-5

28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 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. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4 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." 5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

NIV

It is interesting how important it was for the family that a son should marry the right woman from the same family line. Esau did not care about that, as we have seen how Rebekah was so displeased over those two Hittite wives of her son Esau. What a brat of a man, just because he was not the chosen one as he sold his birthright and then was hoodwinked out of the firstborn blessing. However, now Jacob is given a greeting by his father and told where to go to find a wive and Jacob obeys, which is most interesting, after such a controversy over the blessings. But what can we learn from this portion of scripture that could enhance our relationship with our Lord and people? What is there here that gives us more truth to live by? Isaac blessed Jacob with being fruitful and increasing in numbers until he became a community of people. Although most of the people we know are no longer of childbearing age or are done with adding any more to their families, we could take this community of people into the community of faith. Perhaps there is something to be said about increasing in numbers until we become a community or assembly of people, as the Hebrew is directly translated. Nevertheless, it is right to think that El Shaddai, God Almighty is at the core of all blessings for all his people. We know the blessing of El Shaddai is upon Jacob for from his seed the Messiah will come to Israel. We can also say that God Almighty has blessed us far beyond our desire, yet as a child of God, as a follower of Jesus, a believer, and a person of faith, it would be right to believe that God would bless us. As far as his church, the community of faith has been increasing in numbers all over the world. Most of us may only see our own little community of faith, our local church and we do not see any increase in numbers, in fact, many small churches are simply decreasing one by one each step into eternity. Should we not all be seeing the blessing of God Almighty among all our local churches, among the community of people who believe? Of course, we should not be too concerned with numbers, as that is truly up to the Lord, as the Holy Spirit is the one who is convicting people of their need to repent, and Jesus said that He would build his church, and surely the church has and is continuing to be built. Still, what we desire is the blessing of El Shaddai upon our lives personally and within the local church we are a family of people with. Bless us Lord God Almighty, and bless those who believe you, because we are your people, brothers, and sisters of Jesus, your sons, and daughters. Thank you Father for blessing us with Jesus, and with this life you have given us. 

To Hate or To Love

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

TO HATE OR TO LOVE

Gen 27:39-46

39 His father Isaac answered him, "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck." 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." 42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. 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. Why should I lose both of you in one day?" 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."

NIV

Here is where that hatred turns to thoughts of murder. Jesus taught that if we hate someone in our thoughts it is the same as if we committed murder. Of course, hate is a powerful word, yet the Greek word miseo means to detest, to pursue with hatred, or it can mean to love less. However, these were the thoughts of Esau regarding the actions of his brother, a family member he grew up with, perhaps played with as young boys, yet as they grew up their interests grew apart, yet still brothers born in the same household. Jacob did not do what was right, either about Esau’s birthright, or the blessing. Is it any wonder Esau is upset, angry, and looking to enact vengeance upon his brother? But that is not our way within the body of Christ, for we have the teaching of Jesus who tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Yet, we have known believers to hold grudges even to the point of saying they would never forgive someone for what they did. Never forgive is a strong emotion that puts a person in extreme danger for as Jesus taught us how to pray and when we get to the part about forgiving our transgressions as we forgive those who transgressed against us, it becomes conditional on God forgiving us. Jesus was very clear, as Matthew records, that if we forgive people who sin against us, our heavenly Father will also forgive us, but if we do not forgive people who sin against us, that is we hold a grudge against them, our heavenly Father will not forgive our sins. That is really strong teaching, and if we are not careful, and watchful in our thoughts about others, even those who might offend us somehow, we are in extreme danger. For the most part, we are either being offensive or offended by a family member, both of our birth family and the family of God. This is why love is at the top of the list and at the bottom of the list. Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. How can we ever allow anything within the family or the family of God to interrupt our following the word of God regarding our relationships? Esau did and as a result, Jacob had to flee for his life, leaving all he ever knew, and even his mother was disgusted with living because of the Hittite woman. We see many times that hatred existed in the people within the bible, yet we know love, including forgiveness, must be our top priority because we follow Jesus.

 

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. 

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. 

No Deception

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

NO DECEPTION

Gen 27:1-17

27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," he answered. 2 Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your weapons — your quiver and bow — and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die." 5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies." 11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. 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; go and get them for me." 14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

NIV

As we looked in the last days of Isaac, seeing as ours will also be coming and what we do in the dash between the date of our birth and death is what is important, we now move on to this matter with Jacob and Esau preparing a meal for Isaac. Rebekah has aided her favorite son Jacob in a deceptive scheme to make him appear, and smell like his brother Esau to get the first blessing belonging to the firstborn. We know in the overall scheme of things Jacob is the one who will become the father of the twelve tribes of Isreal and in the lineage of Jesus. We cannot fully understand the reasoning behind how this happened and why God allowed this to happen. However, we also see a truth about being who we are meant to be and not trying to be someone we are not, as Jacob tried to be Esau for his gain of the inheritance of the firstborn. Although we are not trying to pretend to be another person, we might try to attempt to be like another person, imitating their pattern for life, because they appear successful. Jesus said to follow him, which means we should be trying to be like Jesus, not like another person. It is easy to see the way someone lives and their manner of doing things, but we should never try to be like someone else but only try to be like Jesus. This may also apply to ministry as those who are called are called based on who they are, and what the Lord has worked in their lives and we must always be true to ourselves, not trying to imitate those who have become successful with large churches. Each of us are the clay in the hands of the Potter and he molds us into the vessel of his choice, and we are who he has made us and that is all we are. Each of us is a member of the total body of Christ with our part he has decided. We are all living stones being built into the temple of God, as he places us where he has determined. This can also apply to the façades that we might want to put in front of ourselves only showing a nice appearance to others while being the real us when we are alone. As one pastor had said that the difference between our personality and our character is our personality is when we are with people, but our character is who we are when we are alone. Although we agree in kind, we are never really alone for the Spirit is always with us. This brings us to the conclusion, that we can only be who God has designed us to be, and do what he has empowered us to do and that would or should always be a benefit to his kingdom. We know how the Pharisees and the chief priests pretended righteousness, yet they were not. This is another façade we need to be careful of, looking righteous or spiritual.  He loves us and desires the best for us, as we are made by him, so we endeavor to follow Jesus and be who we are supposed to be, with no deception. 

Life in the Dash

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

LIFE IN THE DASH

Gen 27:1-4

27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," he answered. 2 Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your weapons — your quiver and bow — and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

This is the beginning of a long narrative, considering the deception by Rebekah and Jacob of stealing the firstborn blessing that belonged to Esau. However, before we dive into the deception we should pause for a moment on this statement of Isaac to his son Esau. When Isaac calls his son Esau to tell him about his pending death and the need to give the firstborn blessing, he makes this profound statement, “I don’t know the day of my death”. Who does know the day of their death? That sounds a little doom and gloom to think about the day of our death, but the fact remains, there is going to be the day of our death. If and when that occurs and our bodies are put to rest, so to speak, they will put the year of our birth, a dash, and the year of our death.  We hear this question, “What did we do during the dash?”. It does not matter what day our last is, it is inevitable, but what we are doing in the days before our last is what we should ponder on. Our culture has determined a certain age when we are to retire from our life’s work and sit back, enjoying the fruit of our labors. How can we do that? We are a citizen of the kingdom of God and as far as we can tell there is no retirement in God’s kingdom, as we are still within the dash. The culture of this world might tell us we are finished, but that is not true either, for we are still able to contribute to society if we choose, but as a believer we know we are always supposed to be a benefit to the kingdom of God, doing that which God has called us to until the day he calls us home. We cannot just sit doing either nothing or our self-interests waiting for that last day to come. Some believers indeed have a difficult road to their last day, filled with pain, even weakness of limbs, unable to stand anymore, confined to either a chair or a bed all day, and maybe not just waiting, but hoping for that last day, giving up, in a sense of living. Maybe that is the way for all of us, we cannot tell the path God has laid out for us, and when that day will be. What we do know is that as long as we have the strength, as long as we are of sound mind, we will work as onto the Lord, doing that which he has called us to do. We are but the clay in his hands, and he molds us into whatever type of vessel best suits him and his kingdom. All we can do is keep on keeping on until He calls us home, for we are still living in the dash, so let's make it count for the kingdom. 

The Treaty

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE TREATY

Gen 26:23-35

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." 25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. 26 Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?" 28 They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us' — between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD." 30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 32 That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We've found water!" 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba. 34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

NIV

Considering the Lord's appearance and blessing, there are still more nuggets to chew on. The treaty is one of them. Why would a king with a personal advisor and a commander of his forces want to make a treaty with a private citizen? If King Abimelech has a commander of his forces, it would make sense he has a whole army at his disposal to make war against other kings, no less a private citizen with a few manservants, unless Isaac had a whole army of manservants, herdsman, and shepherds that he could overpower a king’s army. Nevertheless, it is not about the number of men Isaac had, but about the blessing of the LORD which Abimelech was concerned about. Although we do not know the faith of Abimelech, he was afraid of a man who had the blessing of the LORD upon him. This could mean that God would fight the battle should any king attack Isaac’s encampment. Do we not have the blessing of the LORD upon our lives? God has blessed us with his Son Jesus who paid the price for our sins, taking the punishment of death we deserved. However, he was also raised from the dead, so that we can be also, as we live under the promise of Jesus when he told us that we would live even though we die if we believe in him. In fact, he promised that faith in him would mean we would never die. We have the promise, the treaty with God, of eternal life. It does not matter how much the army of the evil one attempts to attack our encampment, the LORD God will fight the battle for us, for we live under the treaty he made with us. As Isaac prepared a feast for Abimelech and his men before they made an oath with each other, Jesus prepared a feast for us in that place he had prepared for us. Although we cannot make an oath to God, although our faith is somewhat of an oath, He has made an oath to us because of our faith, he has promised to save us. We cannot repay him, we cannot make an oath, we cannot offer God anything other than ourselves, our faith. So it is our faith and His oath, that is God’s treaty with us.