Read Genesis 27
Here’s the thing for the next couple
of Sundays. We are calling them
Throwback Sundays. Why?
You are going to get the same message
at the 9 am service and the 11 am service.
Why call them Throwback Sundays?
That’s the way we did it about 16 or
17 years ago. If I had to go back 50
years, I would call them vintage Sundays.
I just realized that most the things that I have at home are not old. They are vintage.
But to the message. It’s the same at both services. I tell you this because some of you might not
have noticed.
For this story to make any sense at
all, you must consider God’s
words to Rebekah in Genesis 25.
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the
other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
The children from whom these two
nations would come are Esau—the older but just by a heel, and Jacob who had
latched on to his brother as they emerged from the womb.
To further understand, we look to the
end of Genesis 25.
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,
Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me
have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called
Edom.)
Jacob replied, “First sell me your
birthright.”
“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said.
“What good is the birthright to me?”
But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”
So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and
some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
Isaac is now an old man and his vision
is about gone. He knows his days are
numbered and it is time to give his blessing to his oldest son. He calls for Esau and tells him to get some
fresh game and cook it for him. Isaac
wanted a special meal to go with this blessing.
Esau got his hunting equipment and
went to the field. Rebekah had overheard
this conversation and told Jacob to go get 2 goats from the flock so she could
cook them just the way Isaac liked them.
As they say in theater, the plot
thickens. Both sons are on their
assigned tasks. Slaughtering the goats
and preparing them took less time than hunting game. Jacob’s meal was ready first. Mom made sure
of it.
Jacob was Leary of passing himself off
as his brother. Esau was a man who was
rougher. His skin was tougher. He was still a hairy man. Jacob, well, not so much.
Jacob knew this whole ploy was so that
Isaac would bless him and not his brother.
Esau had sworn away his birthright for a bowl of stew, but his father’s
blessing was still in the hands of Isaac.
Mom dressed Jacob in Esau’s best
clothes and put goat skins over his hands.
Isaac could barely see so he would have to rely on other senses. If he touched or smelled Jacob, he would feel
and smell like his older brother.
Jacob was still skeptical. What if his father discovered the
deception? He would curse him.
Rebekah said that the curse would fall
on her. Jacob proceeded to take his
father the meal.
Jacob began with a lie. Isaac asked, “Who is there?”
Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your oldest
son.” The deception was in full swing.
The deception was not easy. Jacob felt and smelled like Esau, but the
voice was that of Jacob. In the end,
Isaac was convinced that this was his older son and he blessed him.
He blessed him. This was a big deal. This was huge as far as the estate of his
father was concerned, though if you keep reading, Jacob does not seem to be the
beneficiary of that estate.
But a blessing is a blessing and Jacob
had it. He was blessed as if he were the
firstborn.
What a screwball story. God’s Chosen People will come from the line
of Jacob. The Savior of the world will
come from the line of Jacob.
But could it have not come from Esau?
Again, let’s go back
just a little.
When Esau was forty years old, he
married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of
Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Esau already had 2 wives from the
pagan people who surrounded them.
Remember that Abraham
sent his servant to get Isaac a wife
from his brother’s family hundreds of miles east of where they lived now. There was no way that his son would marry one
of these heathen women.
But Abraham’s oldest grandson did just
that. Actually, he took 2 pagan
wives. We are told that Esau despised
his birthright. He apparently was not
too concerned about his offspring either.
By the way, Esau would later take a
wife from the descendants
of Ishmael.
Jacob was pretty slick. His mom was a good coach, but the story
doesn’t end here. Esau comes to his
father’s tent with the game he killed and cook to his dad’s specifications only
to discover that Jacob had stolen his blessing.
There were no do-overs. What was done was done. Jacob had his
father’s blessing.
Esau asked if his father had only one
blessing. This was Isaac’s response.
“Your dwelling will be
away from the earth’s richness,
away from the dew of heaven above.
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.”
That’s not quite the same as how Isaac
blessed Jacob.
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you heaven’s dew
and earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
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.”
Now that was a blessing that would
continue this special lineage from the Father of Many Nations. It was all part of God’s will that the line
to his chosen people and to Jesus would go through Jacob.
We think of our plans as well order
and sensible. Sometimes we look at God’s
plans and think, “What is he thinking?’
Did the God of all the universe really
come up with this?
Our own understanding tells us that
it’s a crazy plan. That won’t work. I’ve
got some ideas of my own.
When we think about those things too much,
we have forgotten that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and truly sovereign.
When we think, “Just what is God
thinking?” we are asking if God has lost control of his creation.
Through our human eyes and through our
own understanding, it might seem like he has, but we walk by, live by faith not
sight.
God does not run his plans by us for
an estimate of supportability.
God does not ask us to chime in as the
dream team of consultants that we think ourselves to be.
Have you ever seen those memes of our
plans as a straight line from point A to point B? Then there is one of God’s plan that goes
from A to B but looks like a 2-year-old was turned loose with a crayon. The trip takes you from A to B but it visits
a thousand other destinations en route, some more than once.
Let me tell you that the one that
looks like it was done by a small child armed with crayons is the one to put on
your refrigerator.
Trust God’s plan.
It may involve hardship. It may involve suffering. It may involve death of loved ones. I may involve dealing with people who hate
your guts.
It may not proceed at your pace. It
may include what you might think are unnecessary steps. It may just seem outright
crazy, but if you know it to be from the Lord, then just trust it.
Decades ago, I was known among the
Marines in my company by a simple phrase.
When Marines were looking at all the reasons that would make the mission
impossible, I would simply say:
Yes, Nike stole my slogan. It’s my own fault. I never copyrighted or trademarked it. Who would have thought it would catch on with
people who made shirts and shoes?
JUST DO IT
I want us to try something
similar. As we face the absurdity of
navigating our world, let’s think in similar terms.
As we look at putting our Master’s
words into practice in what seems like a never-ending race of running against
the wind, let us think:
JUST TRUST HIM
When God’s word tells us to love our
enemies or pray for those who hate us or turn the other cheek when our own
nature would like to deliver a real whopping, think this:
JUST TRUST HIM
We will continue following the story
of Jacob and Esau. We skipped over Esau’s part in this for today, but he is not
forgotten. For now, let’s just leave it with
he is very upset and thinking about killing his brother.
It’s good to know the story. Study it. Learn it. Know it, but above all just trust God and
God's plans and his thoughts and his ways for they are truly higher than our
thoughts and ways.
In an age that seems exceedingly
complicated, here’s is something simple to which you may cling.
It’s the whole trust in the Lord with
all of your heart thing again.
It’s that lean not on your own
understanding bit one more time.
It’s just trust him.
JUST TRUST HIM
Amen.
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