Are Blessings Magical?
Can a promise turn into a problem, can a blessing bring about bigotry even within a family that received that blessing directly from the mouth of God? From promise to a blessing to a curse, this is a story of a family drama over birthright and promise.
Remember how Abraham and Sarah wanted to help God fulfil the promise that they will have a child. God promises Sarah that even thou she is barren she would have a child, but trying to help God, she suggests that Abraham take in her handmaid, Hagar so that the promise would possible. Ishmael is born as a result but despite their deeprooted belief that Ishmael was to be heir, God tells them in no uncertain terms that Ishmael, tho he may also receive some blessing is not the promised one.
You remember your favourite verse, Jer 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you an expected end .” Well here is the other end of that statement, God does not need your advice or help to fulfil that promise.
Isaac after learning that His wife, Rebecca is barren, entreats of the Lord and the Lord blessed Rebecca with a pregnancy. But this a no ordinary pregnancy, it is the medium through which God would demonstrate that he is not limited to the natural order of things and that his thoughts as are higher from ours as the heavens are from the earth.
The Bible records that “the children struggled together within her;” which seems to have been a painful experience for her, here is Gods explanation for this phenomena, and although it might seem to make no sense, remember that God is the one who made the very essence of sense.
“And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.”
This prophecy will split the family into two and cause all the drama of parental favouritism you can imagine Isaac did not buy it, according to the natural order of things, the eldest was supposed to be the heir, But God is not natural. He has his ways.
And so we are introduced to the story of Jacob and Esau who were twins. And just like the prophecy predicted we see earlier on that they possess contrasting qualities. Esau grew up loving self-gratification and centring all his interest in the present PP 177.2 in fact We have already in a past episode seen how Esau sold his birthright for a meal because he wanted to gratify his appetite at the moment.
Jacob, on the other hand, was thoughtful, diligent, and care-taking, ever thinking more of the future than the present PP 177.2
Because of this striking contrast, the mother favours Jacob for his calm character and understanding the promise .while the father favoured Esau, because of his manly power and ability to hunt.
And so ‘…it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
Coincidentally Rebeccah overhears this and convinces Jacob to put on a goat’s skin and wear Esuas clothes and pretend to be Esau so that he should be blessed and not Esau. Here we see two parties who think they are working for God but really are both misled. And what’s interesting in the story is that both Isaac and Rebeccah tell their sons, Obey my voice. Quick question for us today, whose voice do we obey, God’s voice or our parent’s voice. Remember we are told, Children obey your parents in the Lord, not in their ways.
Even though Isaac and Rebecca were a family of God and had received a promise from God, they had one thing wrong. They thought that blessings are magical. That somehow blessings are detached from God’s wisdom and will, but thats, not the case. Gods blessings don’t work with some ab·ra·ca·dab·ra, instead, God’s promises and blessings are freely given and often with conditions.
God had predicted that the elder will serve the younger, and he didn’t need any help to bring this to pass. So why did he tell them, you would agree that it was to test and at the same time strengthen their faith. In the end, even tho Jacob is blessed he has to flee for his life because Esau sought to kill him. Trying to intervene in God’s promise only complicated things. Rebbeca because of her lack of faith turned to deception and this resulted in her never meeting her beloved son again. This story speaks to the nature of what true faith in God should look like.
God promises to lead and guide us as long as we submit to his will and obey, and mostly we try to do things our way because of a lack of trust in him, we limit God to our understanding and try to step in with our harp hazard solutions when we don’t see the full picture. So today, we can learn from this story, that we ought to trust in God, not just when we see the full path but even when its dark and foggy, we are to always do things his way and when we do that God Promises to bless us mightly and lead us to a solution.