Jacob Continues to Deceive & Lie

12/07/2006

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Jacob continues to deceive and to lie

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 27:21-27           

            Message of the verse:  “21  Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.’  22  So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’  23  He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.  24  And he said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ And he said, ‘I am.’  25  So he said, ‘Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.’ And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.  26  Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Please come close and kiss me, my son.’  27  So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, ‘See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed.; 28  Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; 29  May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.’”

            Jacob continues his lying to his father by again saying that he was Esau, and also by giving him a kiss when his father asked him to do so.  There is little doubt in my mind that at this part of Jacob’s life that he could not have been a believer, for it seemed like these things that he was doing came very natural to him, and he did not seem to have any remorse about what he was doing, for it seems that he was doing it for only one reason, and that was the reason of selfishness.  There are similar actions taken place by Rebekah and Sarah in trying, it seems to help God accomplish the things that He had promised that He would do, and not waiting on the Lord to accomplish them in His own time and His own way, that thus these women helped to bring sadness and conflict to those they loved by the sin that they committed in not trusting the Lord.  The men here are the ones that have the responsibility fall upon them for in both cases Abraham and Jacob should have stepped up and done the things that should have been done so that the Lord’s will would have been accomplished in His timing, but they did not and so they along with Adam failed to do the correct thing.

            At the end of the book of Genesis Jacob, who was about to die, would bless his children and also the children of Joseph, and I wonder if these things that were happening in this chapter of his life were remembered by him as he was the one doing the blessing and not the one who was stealing a blessing from his father.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that a lesson that I can learn from this section is that you can never do something wrong without suffering the consequences of your action even though God has promised to work things out for good and to work things out to glorify Himself. 

            I have been reading some verses in 1Cor. 10 which seem to go along with this story that I have been studying.  In the first ten verses Paul writes about some of the wrong things that the children of Israel were doing while they were wondering around in the wilderness, and there are wrong things that Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob were doing in this story too, so that brings out the similar circumstances.  Paul then has this to say in verses 11-13:  “11  Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.  12  Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.  13  No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”  Paul is saying here and also in Romans that the things that happened in the OT were written for the instruction of NT believers to learn from so that they would not repeat these same sins.  He then goes on to say that believers should not be proud and think that they can handle everything that comes there way by themselves, but as he wrote at the end of the letter to the Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength,” and when I as a believer try and do thins on my own and not through Christ who gives me strength then I will end up just like those OT people that Paul was referring to and to these OT people in this story.  Paul finishes the paragraph by giving one of the best verses in all of the Bible for those who are believers, and that is that there is no temptation or test, (the words are the same in the Greek where it could be referring to a test or temptation), that any believer can face that is not common to men, but the best part is that God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted or tested beyond what you are able to be tempted or tested, but He will provided a way of escape in order that you may be able to endure the temptation or test.  I believe that the verse quoted in Philippians comes into play here with these verses as one needs to rely upon the Lord to give the strength and not try and do it on your own as these OT people did.

The Word of God has been convicting and also very challenging to me as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  I want to remember that I too can do all things that God wants me to do through Jesus Christ who gives me strength, and that He will not put on me more than I can endure.  I trust the Lord to direct my path and also to continue to teach me contentment.