Rejoice:

Read:

This chapter is super disappointing. Jacob deceives his father to take Esau’s brith right even though he has already rightfully received it in the soup incident. He, with the help of his mother, dress him up to fool dying Isaac who had terrible sight at this point. Then he entered his father’s tent and not only confirmed his birthright possession but also takes his father’s blessings for Esau. All with the help of his mother… THEN, after this deception Esau is inclined to wait out his father’s death which would then allow him to kill his brother without bringing great sorrow to his father. Rebekah hears about this plot and tells Jacob to flee. So instead of trying to fix the situation, or reconciling his relationship with his brother, Jacob is led to flee the place and go to his Uncle’s. All with the help of his mother…

A mother helped her son deceive his twin brother and then flee to another land. Oh how the mighty human has fallen. From the garden to this grievance. Here we have come to the point of no true intrinsic honor, or intrinsic morality. It seems there need not be a debate on whether they could redeem themselves but yet they continue to strive towards it. Moment after moment they trust themselves to provide, to guide, and to determine their path. Man is wholly wicked and inclined to deception. We are only chapters into this overall story and we should know, without a shadow of a doubt, man is worthless when it comes to provision.

I wonder though if you are here. I mean truly here. Not just looking at these people and seeing it as them, but looking at them and seeing their insufficiency and viewing it as a window into our natural instincts. I wonder if you have realized man’s inability to provide and applied it to your life appropriately. Viewing these stories as you would an instruction manual for a new item. There’s truths here that you may never see explicitly within yourself because the enemy has worked hard to hide them and just use them to prompt other poor behavior/habit.

Self provision. See, when a man directs his path, when humanity determines their direction, they fail on all sides. They may have a facade of success, they may seemingly be benefiting. Yet every single “benefit” humans can muster up on their own is completely temporary or in itself leading to further destruction. We build ivory towers of churches for the saved to worship and escape the fallen world. Leaving us alienated from the sick and dying that need our message. We isolate ourselves from the broken as to avoid being tainted with their sins, further spacing us from the very people we are called to petition to reconciliation. We withdraw into our homes, into our circles, into our families in an attempt to honor God due to our “righteous focus” yet walking in complete opposition to His direction.

Are you reading and  responding… or are you reading and continuing to move on?

Respond:

God, please make clear my hearts intentions. Make known to me Your path. Change me from wanting to be the lead and instead be humble enough to follow You. Help me not to look at all these windows into my heart and simply shrug it off and think “that’s not me.” My flesh is strong, but I know Your Spirit is stronger! 🙂 Amen!

Relate:

Wew… What if following God’s path, maybe that includes a direction change for you or maybe not, but what if following God’s path included us reminding everyone that’s what we are dingos? (That was an autocorrect but I left it there because it’s hilarious) What if following God’s path included us reminding people daily that’s what we are doing? If your life is being poured out for God and is only directed by Him and not your “American Dream” then you can let other’s know! They will likely ask WHY you are living differently. If you remind people constantly about YOUR obedience it will remind them that they are called to be obedient too.