Squandered Blessing

Last week we were in Genesis 24-25-today our focus is going to on chapter 27-turn there. Since we’re moving quickly through this narrative (and it does move fast) I’m going to take a few minutes to get us up to speed in the story. Last week, we left off in chapter 25. Abraham died but not before he made sure that Isaac had a wife from his country and line. So Isaac and Rebekah are married and Isaac is now the main character through whom the promises of God to Abraham will be continued. 

In chapter 25 we learn that, like Sarah, Rebekah was barren and that Isaac prayed and the Lord answered and she conceived-(this took 20 years). God speaks to Rebekah about the twins and she learns that there will be strife between the two-They will be divided and the older will serve the younger. The twin boys are born-Esau first and Jacob second-grasping Esau’s ankle and we quickly see their personality differences: Esau is the rough and tumble manly man, Jacob was a tent dweller (? Hermit, geek). Isaac loved Esau because of his game but Rebekah loved Jacob. And this chapter ends with Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a cup of stew. 

Chapter 26 is reminiscent of Abrahams story-there’s a famine in the land. The Lord directs Isaac and promises to protect and bless Isaac. Isaac listens and settles in the land but follows in his father’s footsteps-pretending that Rabekah is his sister because he fears death. Even so, after being confronted by King Abimelech-(I’m guessing that the he had heard the stories of the curse of God because of Abraham)-he prospers and becomes wealthy and powerful in the land because the Lord was with him. King Abimalech later makes a peace treaty with Isaac because he felt threatened by his growing presence- and the last thing we read in chapter 26 is that Esau took a Hittite woman as his wife and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. 

Read Genesis 27:1-4, 20, 33-34, 41 

Family letter Ill.

What would you think of this letter: 

Howdy, Isaac here. We have had one amazing year. The flocks are growing like crazy and my prosperity and power are expanding so much that Kings are asking me for peace treaties because I’m making them nervous. I’m sure you’re experiencing the blessing of God as well. Ahhh, God is good! And you should see Esau-wow! he’s a brute. He’s the fastest and strongest kid on the block and you should see him hunt. He can kill just about anything. I am so proud of him! (this section ends with…) Now I’ll hand you over to Rebekah. 

Hello everybody, its Rebekah here. We have just had the greatest year. You should see little Jacob. Boy can he cook! He can turn a goat, a bag of rice and some greens into a meal fit for a king. He’s also read 57 books (which is more than 1 a week) and figure out how to do the rubics cube in less than 30 seconds. That little guy never ceases to amaze me. I’m so proud of him. And I hope you’ve had a great year too. See you next year. 

Hopefully, year after year, with a discerning eye, you would be able to see a pattern in these letters. You might begin to wonder why the letter seems divided; why there’s not more “we’s” in the letter and why each parent always talks about the same child but not the other. And you would quickly lose any sense of intimidation as you realized that they really weren’t perfect and that they didn’t realize that they were giving away huge clues about something that had crept in and was destroying the essence of their family. 

And that is that they had lost sight of a true spiritual vision in life and in their family. They knew the blessing of God but they were simply consuming. The blessing had become all about them-they were living on a horizontal plane and they had lost sight of the fact that the most important thing was for them was not simply to know the blessing of God but for them to respond to the blessing of God in a way that they would experience and in a sense overflow with the blessing of God. 

This chapter is a mirror for us this morning. It’s a mirror of what can happen to those who are blessed-even abundantly blessed-by God.  So let’s take a look each member of this very unhappy, dysfunctional family. 

Isaac

Let’s start with Isaac. Isaac is old, blind and close to death and he’s allowed a pattern of sin in his life that he can’t see. It seems that Isaac has become more committed to his own comfort and preferences than the word and the choice of God. He decides it’s time to give blessings but he calls only one of the boys-and it’s not the one that he knows it should be [expound a little]. We’ve been seeing this pattern developing from the beginning: Isaac loved Esau (his game) and Rebekah loved Jacob. And in 27 the narrator draws attention to it again when Isaac calls Esau “my son” and Rebekah calls Jacob “my son”. 

Isaac is not only blind but his sense of taste is also confused. He can’t tell the difference between cooked game and goat. This is a multi-level description: This is a man who has received abundant blessings from God and yet has become not only physically blind but also spiritually blind and has not only lost his physical taste but also his spiritual taste. He doesn’t see or get hungry for the things that really matter. That he should be a father who trusted God and His word and sought to apply Gods word to his life. If there was a man alive who should trust God it was Isaac because he knew the faithfulness of God but… 

He’s seems to have forgotten about the importance of the covenant and promise that God made with his father. He must have forgotten that his life was spared; that he was saved when God provided a substitute for him which was a foreshadowing of God’s promise to Abraham and all of humanity. He lost sight of these things; of what was most important. And he failed to pass these things on to his sons. 

He knew the promises of God; he could still hear the stories of God’s faithfulness and plan. But he wasn’t affected by them and so he heard physically but spiritually was hardened and did not hear…just like I can be (here is the mirror); As a father to hear the word of God but for none of it to penetrate my heart or affect my soul and so the things that I would pass on to my children would be as if God had never spoken to me-which is a terrible inheritance. 

But Isaac comes around when Esau comes in and he realizes what he’s done. Isaiah 66 says that the Lord looks with favor on the one who trembles at His word. Isaac is now trembling at the realization of God’s word and the consequences of his own sin. The tragedy is that this is the first time that he trembles and it’s too late, the damage is done. But Isaac isn’t alone here.. 

Rebekah

This woman who was once described as very attractive when we first met her has become progressively ugly on the inside. Remember how Peter describes beauty? Not external but internal. “Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. [5] For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands.” Then Peter uses Rebekah’s mother-in-law as an example: as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” 

Why could she call him Lord? Because she respected him. But Rebekah no longer respected Isaac. It could be that the favoritism over the boys had created division and an atmosphere where their marriage relationship was no longer characterized by intimacy and oneness but it had slowly shifted-now characterized by competition and bitterness. The effect of unresolved sin and self centered leadership… 

She knew what God had said about Jacob but instead of trusting and waiting she took things into her own hands. It’s convenient when the will of God lines up with our desires-isn’t it. It makes it easy justify pre-emptive action. But the bottom line is that she didn’t trust Him. Instead she took things into her own hands and manipulated the situation. Of all women, Rebekah should know that God is capable of following through on His word-she’s married to Isaac! Instead, her lack of trust and selfish centered heart led her to try to take control. 

Mirror: This is a reminder of how weak and fragile we are. When we turn away from trusting God’s promises we can easily end up as manipulators. It reveals that we don’t trust God to follow through on His promise. It reveals faithlessness. 

Last are the children, we’ll start with Esau.

 Esau

It seems evident that Esau is not ready or worthy to receive his blessing and inheritance. He’s immature and short sighted; seems to have been spoiled foolishly by his indulgent father. He married into false Gods and made life miserable for his parents. He didn’t respect them. He’s already sold his birth right. Why would he do this? He didn’t value it. It seems to have become more of a trite gift to be enjoyed or something to bargain with-rather than the responsibility of being an heir of the promise of God to all people. 

Look at his response when he finds out that Jacob beat him to the blessing. He screams and cries out “can you just give me something?” This is the guy that sold his birth right. Esau is not responding this way because the blessing of his father (of God) was stolen and so now he won’t have the privilege to be an hair of the promise that God made with his grandfather, that through his offspring he would bring one who would bless all nations. No, he was bitter. His eyes were on himself and Jacob. You see, the person who trusts God doesn’t get bitter even when things don’t go their way. Instead, they trust God. Job promotion, health issues, being sinned against. 

Time for the mirror again, what are you living for? How will it hold up to the “death bed” test? Even if the focus of your life is “Godly” (church, family, relationships) what is your motivation in doing them? Do you see any of Esau in yourself-are you short sighted? Have you been living as though the blessing in your life is for you to enjoy and consume? Or are your eyes fixed on the future, the next generation and eternity. Are you actively living to see the blessing of God spread to as many people as possible? Because that’s what the promise is. 

Jacob

And then there’s Jacob. 40 years old and he has no moral compass. Even going back to when Esau sold him his birth right-who in their right mind would require a birth right for a bowl of stew? This was an unethical dealing? You have to wonder if Jacob hadn’t been sitting around in tents for months trying to figure out how to get the birth rights. “Give me stew, give me your birth right”? I don’t see the connection. 

And when his mother came to him with this deceptive, manipulative plan he should have said no [expound]. But he lacked spiritual strength and his only hesitation was a concern that he might get caught and receive a curse. He lied and he blasphemes. He’s not only prepared beforehand to lie-but he also makes God his accomplice. When his father asks how he prepared it so fast he gives the credit to God’s favor on him. Jacob can talk the talk. He knows all the right answers-the Christianesse-but his heart is cold and unaffected by the word of God. He doesn’t use the Lords name to bless others; he uses it to benefit himself. And Jacob, like the others, viewed the blessing selfishly.

But the blessing was not just for Isaac or Jacob but for the whole world. Church, this is an encouragement and a warning for us today. The word of God searches us and opens us up to cleanse us and to restore us-let it do its work and respond to the Spirit of God. Everyone in this family was pursuing their own end. It began with promise and blessing but is now recovering from tragedy. It’s seems like there’s no hope: Isaac is left in his tent to think about his failure and Rebekah has lost all that she wanted. Jacob is gone and his mother will never see him again, Esau is committed to kill Jacob and continues to bring strife and dishonor to the family by marrying foreign women again.

But as hopeless as this family seems to be, there is hope-hope through a promise. God made a promise and God will keep his promise. And so there is a way back for them all through the promise. And today we live in the reality of the fulfillment of the promise that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave and kept. In spite of Isaac and Jacob’s sin God was faithful. There is a significant statement that God makes to Isaac as he is reiterating the promise that he made with Abraham and is now extending to Isaac and we need to hear today. If you are experiencing conviction or guilt-feeling the weight of your sin and failure there is a way back -listen, 

Genesis 26:5 “[Promise of blessing, protection and prosperity]…because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Just like Isaac, our hope is found in the obedience of another. None of us are perfect husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends. But our lives have been bought with a price by one who is perfect; by one who experienced deceit and was betrayed. Our salvation has come through one who gave up His blessing and accepted the curse and was sent away from His Father so that we could come near and join His family. 

No matter what your sin is, bring it to Him and repent-no matter how you may have squandered the blessing-come. Is your heart cold, are you playing games with God, do you care more about the pleasures of the world than His word, have you become blind and lost your hunger spiritually? In essence, have you lost a true spiritual vision for your life and your family’s life? Let’s repent, church, let’s repent.