By John Stallings
…Lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain. Galatians 2:2
A college football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player & said, “I’m not supposed to let you play since you failed math, but we need you in this game. So what I have to do is ask you a math question & if you get it right you can play.”
The player agreed & the coach asked him, “O.K, what’s two plus two? The player thought for a minute & answered, “It’s four.” “Did you say four?” the coach exclaimed in pleasure.
After a few more seconds of death-like silence in the locker room, the other players began screaming, “Come on coach, give him another chance.”
Paul used many sports analogies, likening the Christian life to different sporting endeavors;
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. –Phil.3:14
….so I fight not as one that beateth the air…1 Cor.9:26
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.—2 Tim.4:7
…And exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith…Jude 3
…Let us run with patience the race that is set before us…Heb12:2
The following are some rules you & I should follow to be effective in running the Christian race.
1. DON’T HIDE, PLAY THE GAME
To be successful at any sport you have to get into the game. You can’t phone it in. Many people want to run away & hide when life treats them badly. They drop out of church & everything else they can that brings them into direct contact with people.
A telemarketer called a home one day & a small voice whispered, “Hello?”
“Hello! What’s your name?
Still whispering he said, “Jimmy.”
“How old are you Jimmy?”
“Four.”
“Good. Is you mother home?”
“Yes but she’s busy.”
“Okay, is your father home?”
“Yes but he’s busy too.”
“I see. Who else is there?”
“The Police.”
“The Police? May I speak to one of them?”
“They’re busy.”
“Any other grownups there?”
“Yes, the firemen.”
“May I speak with a fireman?”
“They’re too busy.”
“Jimmy, you have all those people in your house & I can’t talk with any of them?” “What are they doing?”
“They’re looking for me.”
I’ll bet that if little Jimmy wasn’t already in trouble he was going to be after this. No telling what he did.
When I was about four years old I hung up the phone on a lady one day after she called the parsonage & said my father was supposed to marry her at three o’clock that afternoon. Just before dropping the phone into its cradle I explained to her that my father was already married.
Joe Louis was the world heavyweight boxing champ from 1937 until he retied in 1949. In 1946 he was preparing for his title defense against a skilled fighter named Billy Conn. Louis was warned to look out for Conn’s great speed & ability to move out of his opponent’s range.
In a famous display of confidence Louis replied, “He can run but he can’t hide.”
Some people try to do both when the pressures of life start to build. They try to run away & hide.
JONAH
We’re told in Jonah 1:1-2—The word of the Lord came to Jonah….Go to the great city of Nineveh & preach against it…But Jonah ran from the Lord….He went down to Joppa where he found a ship for that port. After paying the fare he went aboard… but Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down & fell into a deep sleep.
Jonah was in trouble so he decided to try to run away. I don’t know if you realize it but preaching is a tough job because you never know where God will send a preacher.
Old buddy Jonah didn’t care about the Ninevites. In fact he hated them & wanted God to destroy them. Jonah’s big idea was that if he preached to these people they might be saved so instead, he ran away. Hid on a ship. Went below deck. Was so depressed he fell asleep. Life causes many depressed people to go to sleep & try to hide. DON’T DO IT!!
Here’s what the Devil tells people; --Stay away from people. They’ll just depress you. Don’t have any friends, just have acquaintances. That won’t cost you anything.
Jonah is an interesting character but I don’t believe there’s a greater example of a hypocrite in the entire Bible. Jonah isn’t famous for what he says. As a matter of fact, you can look at another Minor Prophet, Amos, & find nine chapters of incredible teaching about what God intends for the life of His people. But when you look at Jonah, at least what we have in English, we only have eight words that he preaches;--Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.
Its not so much what Jonah says that makes him a stand-out, it’s what he does; he runs from God.
As a rule when God tells one of His prophets to do something it’s with Israel in mind. But in this case God tells Jonah to go & preach to outsiders. Not only is Nineveh not Israel, Nineveh is the enemy of Israel. Mostly because of these things, Jonah decides to run. He says, -I hate Ninevehites. They’re the enemy of my people. They’ve hurt my people. I won’t go.
I’ve been studying this man Jonah for a long time & I can’t bring myself to believe he’s an idiot, although he’s now acting like one. I don’t think he reasoned that God was like a cell-phone & if he got far enough away, he’d be out of God’s reach. He knew he couldn’t get out of God’s reach but he may have reasoned that if he got far enough away it would make it inconvenient for God to use him. If I get far enough away, if God has any type of working timetable he’ll call somebody else to go to Nineveh. I don’t know what was in Jonah’s mind but he was human & being human he saw something he flat didn’t want to do so he scrambled to find ways to get out of it.
Now Jonah is going to be famous for his inability to get away from God. What makes the book & the man famous is that he tries to run & hide. Moving along, Jonah gets on a boat. A storm hits. The people on board wonder what’s going on. They start throwing things overboard. Nothing they do works. The sailor’s ask Jonah if he understands what’s going on & he tells them he’s running from God. So they throw him overboard.
Now God prepares a great fish to pick Jonah up. The fish isn’t there to judge him but to save him. Some folk don’t take this story literally but I do. If it said Jonah swallowed the fish, I’d believe that. If the Bible said a sardine swallowed Jonah I’d believe that. Its not a matter of my great spirituality, it’s just for me it’s always better to just believe whatever the Book says, rather than to try to inject my faulty reasoning. You can get so much more accomplished that way.
Isn’t it interesting that there isn’t a lot of screaming in this story? There’s no, “Hey God, it’s dark in here. Get me out God, why me? Jonah cried out to God for deliverance & God caused the fish to spit him out on dry land. Now Jonah is prepared to commit himself to God who has been patient & compassionate with him.
I think the bottom line, at least one of the bottom lines in Jonah’s story is that you & I can’t successfully run from God & if we do run we’ll never successfully hide.
In pastoring over the years, I’ve seen many “rolling stones,” just passing through. They’ll stop by the church & ask for a hand-out or a few hours work. That’s all they want & they’re on their way. It’s plain to see they’re running from something, maybe even themselves. How sad. I know life can be pretty tough sometimes, downright miserable but never withdraw from society. What happens if we do that is we end up withdrawing from people who really care about us.
I remember one time when I was a kid that my dad brought one of these disheveled travelers home & my mother seated him at the dining room table & fried him about a dozen eggs, with bacon & toast. He kept asking for more & after he got his stomach full he left with hardly a grunt of thanks. I remember a lot of bums drifting by but that’s the only one we ever fed like that without at least having them mow the lawn. I don’t remember all the details but I think the attitude that guy had taught my folks a lesson.
2. BE A TEAM PLAYER
Paul said,--Each of you should look not only at your own interests but also to the interests of others. Phil. 2:4
It’s obvious that we’re not in this life by ourselves; we’re surrounded by family & friends. Consequently we should be team players, always considering how the things we do impact others.
We’re all guilty at some point for watching out more for ourselves than for others.
James 4:17 says,--Anyone who knows the good he ought to do & doesn’t do it, sins.
Actress Shirley McClain says, “The most pleasurable trip we’ll ever take is through ourselves. The only sustaining love involvement is with yourself….”
Huh? Is she crazy or what? God didn’t put us here to live for self. Existential author Ayn Rand espoused the same sort of tripe. What planet are these people circling in their “beautiful balloons?”
Paul said,-Bear one another’s burdens & so fulfill the law of Christ.-Gal. 6:2
Scripture is full of admonitions about considering others. Is God talking to you about this? Have you ever seen these people, men & women who work hard in the gym to build up big muscles? They call those “show muscles.” Some of them, especially the ones who compete, get so ripped it’s almost grotesque looking. [Someone might say—hey wait a minute, those muscles look better than fat-& they’d be right.]
My point is, why go to the trouble to build a strong body just to enjoy the adulation of others? That would also be true of anyone who takes an inordinate amount of time to have a body to arouse the admiration & adoration of others. A healthy body, by all means, but we should always be on guard not to become narcissistic & self-absorbed.
One cold day a crowd of people stood in front of a pet shop window & watched a litter of puppies snuggling up to each other. One woman laughed & said, “What a delightful picture of brotherhood. Look at how those pups are keeping each other warm.”
A man next to her said, “No ma’am, they’re not keeping each other warm. They’re keeping themselves warm.” We could look at this story two ways but I prefer to think when we seek to keep others warm we will also keep ourselves warm.
3. YOU’LL GET HURT IN THE GAME OF LIFE -BUT PLAY ANYWAY.
People in every sport get hurt. I didn’t realize it until someone told me a few years back, but did you know golfers get hurt almost as frequently as those in other sports? If you watch the news you’ll find that golf’s top money winners are always having some sort of surgery; back surgery, knee surgery, elbow surgery, finger surgery, foot surgery, skin lesion surgery, all kinds of surgery. A few weeks ago I saw Tiger Woods on T.V playing here in Orlando at the Bay Hill tournament. He won despite having just come back from having knee surgery eight months earlier.
People get hurt playing sports. The Christian life is no different.
Peter said,-Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though some strange thing has happened to you.—1 Peter 4:12
Have you been to the dentist lately? In spite of all he can do he’ll hurt you if with nothing more than that water-sucker-upper they hang in your mouth. Have you been to a chiropractor lately & felt that pop when they adjust your neck or back? Just the thought of these things make me hurt & very nervous. But you know folks, those things are supposed to hurt a little.
Growing older hurts. At my age if I stop & think about it I can find a pain somewhere in my body at all times. Some things are supposed to hurt. The other day I saw a real-life drama of a fireman rescuing a man who’d had a building collapse on him. The man was moaning in pain, telling the rescuers how bad his legs were hurting him. One of the firemen finally said, “Sir, if your legs are hurting, that’s a good sign. That means they’re not paralyzed.” After that the man relaxed & stopped fretting.
THE PAIN CHRIST ENDURED
Go back & read Isaiah 53 again & marvel with me at that chapter & the way it depicts the pain Christ endured. This chapter is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other portion of the Old Testament.
It’s truly hard to believe that this incomparable prophecy was written 750 years before Christ lived. Nothing explains it better than the words of Apostle Peter, --Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In my opinion a man would be a fool to try to deny that the Bible is God’s Word when he reads Isaiah 53.
As you read the words of this chapter, you might think you are reading the report of a man who was standing by when the Son of God died on that cursed tree. But these are the words of a man who lived almost a millennium beforehand. Isaiah wrote of the sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ & did it with such precise detail & accuracy because the Holy Spirit breathed out the words as he wrote them. Nothing else can explain this prophecy.
Listen further to Hebrews;
Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight & the sin that doeth so easily beset us, & let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author & finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame, & is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12: 1-2
Friend, we have to play the game even though we get hurt in life. But the Lord has promised to be with us, to strengthen us, to give us grace.
Yes we must stay engaged in life’s game, but we don’t have to play it alone!
Blessings,
John
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Young And The Restless
By John Stallings
I’ve never been a fan of soap operas.
I think the reason so many people enjoy the “soaps” is they make them feel normal. Or perhaps they make them feel that others are having more problems than they are.
There’s no put-down here. It’s just that I can get the same feeling from the six-o’clock news or movies for that matter.
If you like soap operas or if you just love a good story, you’re going to love this read. As in the “soaps,” we need a reminder of what’s gone before….. so here it is.
God called Abraham & Sarah to leave their home country & head out to the far land of Canaan, taking with them the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars. But for decades Sarah was unable to bear children until finally the birth of Isaac.
Isaac was a late bloomer, who at forty was still living in the basement of his parent’s tent. Concerned about the future of the family lineage, Abraham sends his servant back to his homeland to seek a bride for Isaac. He finds just the right one; a beautiful, generous, energetic & determined young lady named Rebekah. She responds to the stranger & agrees to go with him to a far away land to marry another stranger.
GOTTA LOVE THIS YOUNG WOMAN CALLED REBEKAH!
Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 years old. Speaking of soap operas…. Rebekah too was barren- so Isaac asked the Lord to let her bear children.
Have you ever noticed how many women in the Bible struggled to have children? Mary the mother of Jesus was a notable exception of course. Rebekah, like her mother-in-law Sarah, like Hannah the mother of Samuel, like Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, struggled with the reality that it was difficult for them to get pregnant.
God answered Isaac’s prayer & Rebekah got pregnant, but it was a difficult pregnancy. Twin boys were mixing it up inside her. In Genesis 25:22-23 when she inquired about this “young & restless” unborn duo, God answered; “you’re carrying two nations in your womb.”
These boys’ rambunctious little hands were already clawing at each other in Rebecca’s womb. They were at war before they saw the light of day.
The conflict goes on even to this day. Some say it’s the longest family feud in history.
Being a man, I can’t say much about the gynecological side of Sarah or Rebekah’s situation, [thank God] but I will make a theological comment. Isn’t it interesting that these were all women hand-picked by God to do His will in bringing the ones into the world He planned to use? But even though it was God’s will, still the process wasn’t easy. God wanted the babies to be born but it seemed so hard for them to get here.
Being willing to be used of God is a good thing but people often forget that being used of God has its struggles as well as its great blessings. Indeed, just because God is in a venture doesn’t necessarily guarantee smooth sailing. Paul got into a two-week storm on the high seas on his way to Rome.
When the twins, Jacob & Esau came out of the womb, one was red & the other was hairy. Jacob was grasping Esau’s heel. Jacob’s name actually means “Grabber” or “Supplanter.”
I don’t know if you saw the movie “Twins” with Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny De Vito. Believe it or not in the movie the pair supposedly was twins. Jacob & Esau were a bit like that; all the testosterone seemed to go to Esau. He’s born covered with hair & loves the outdoors & was probably the captain of his high school football team. Esau was also a skillful hunter, a man of the open country. With him what you saw was what you got, & he probably wore his heart on his sleeve.
Jacob was an introvert, a quiet man preferring to stay among the tents & be near his momma. He preferred cooking to killing. He was a good cook, & loved doing needlework. He thoroughly enjoyed helping out around the house. But the kid was clever & ambitious. If he grew up today, he’d probably be big crossword puzzle guy, more of a chess player than a football player like Esau. Isn’t it interesting that all these thousands of years later we can recognize in these very different brothers people we know?
Papa Isaac loved wild game so Esau the hunter was his favorite son. Rebekah was partial to Jacob. If you’re like me you ask yourself, what kind of family was this, showing partiality & favoritism to one child over the other? Where in the world did these brothers come from anyway; one smooth & smart, the other strong & hairy?
This is a real family. This is a real mother & a real father. Maybe they’re like your parents. Maybe these words were often spoken; “Look how good your brother is doing in school. Don’t you think you’d be wise to model yourself after him a bit more?”
Family dynamics are subtle & hard to understand, let alone untangle. Back before we adopted such sophisticated words like dysfunctional, people just came out with the truth: Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
It didn’t mean that both the parents didn’t love both the boys; it just means they each had a favorite son.
THE SIN OF FAVORITISM IS EGREGIOUS
The sin of favoritism in this family is terrible & it wounded deeply just as it does in families today. Favoritism is about as brutal & blunt an object as a person can be pummeled with. The neglected or seemingly unwanted child will often spend a lifetime yearning & competing for the love of a parent.
Just as is always the case in a family breakdown, the real crunch-time came over something trivial. In the case of Jacob & Esau, it was a bowl of stew.
This whole scene might not have happened if Isaac had taken his responsibility as a parent & transferred the birthright earlier. God had told Rebekah even before the birth of the boys that… the older would serve the younger.
One day Esau came in from working in the field & he was famished. Jacob has been puttering around the kitchen & has come up with some great smelling stew. Esau says, “Give me some of that red stuff.” Jacob says, “its not red stuff its bourguignon & you can’t have any.” “But why not” says Esau, “I’m starving.”
Esau made the worst possible deal. In Philippians 3:19 the apostle Paul speaks of those—whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, & whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things.
Esau traded the eternal for the temporal, the spiritual for the physical, & the unseen for the seen! Losing his birthright cost Esau his standing among God’s people. In Hebrews 12:16-17—lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright. For ye know that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.
Esau had no appreciation for what God was doing in his life. Life was about pleasure to Esau. Spiritual matters were a waste of time. Life was about pleasure.
JACOB-WHAT A GUY!
Watch carefully now as Jacob shows us his prowess in thinking on his feet. He’s a quick-witted opportunist. He’s neither afraid nor ashamed to take full advantage of the situation & he’s not above using deception & trickery.
But there’s something else. Jacob has been thinking about Esau’s birthright & what it meant. For one thing it meant he’d receive a double share of the inheritance which was intended for the eldest son. He also knows the promises that God made to Abraham & he values those promises.
But the birthright wasn’t all Jacob wanted. Not even close. I suspect that he wanted to be the one through whom the promises to Abraham would continue.
“O.K says Jacob, you give me your birthright, sign the family fortune over to me & make me the heir, make me the older brother—first born in the family & I’ll give you a little bowl of stew.”
Surely Esau is exaggerating about his hunger here. Surely he could have gotten food from one of the other tents. Maybe these brothers are still quite young & there’s an element of clowning around in what they’re doing. Maybe it starts out kidding but Jacob is deadly serious now.
Whatever the exact dynamics are here, one thing we know is, Esau despised his birthright. He didn’t value it, at least not now. He was one of those people who lived for today -“for tomorrow we die.” He had no time for things like birthrights & the big picture in life. His attitude was—you can’t eat a covenant. Consequently, because Esau frivolously bartered away his birthright, the promise didn’t pass to the elder child of Isaac.
Strike one against Jacob. He has tricked his brother & taken something extremely valuable.
Isaac was old now & could no longer see so he called Esau to his bedside. “Go to the open country, kill some wild game & prepare me the tasty food I like so much so I can give you my blessing before I die” he said.
Rebekah overheard the conversation. She told her favorite son Jacob to get himself in gear fast & kill two choice goats so she can prepare her dying husband the meal the way she knows he likes it.
Jacob didn’t only want the birthright & a double portion of the family inheritance; he wanted his father’s blessing too. Jacob was crooked but not dumb. He knew the inheritance wasn’t his but he wanted it anyway. He knew that he came from a line that was promised by God to do great things.
Jacob takes the skins & covers his arms & chest with the hair so he can fool his father, thus pulling the rug out from under Esau, stealing the blessing given the oldest son---the family fortune.
Jacob fools his father & by deception gets Esau’s blessing. Jacob had hardly left his father’s tent when Esau came in with a sumptuous meal he’d prepared from the game he’d killed.
When Isaac & Esau realized they’d been duped, they both reacted violently. Papa Isaac trembled all over. He has been deceived by his youngest son. Something promised to his older son Esau. What must he have thought? How sickening this must have been for him. Esau burst out in a loud bitter cry, “Bless me, bless me too my father.” Esau wept loudly, “Please give me a blessing too.”-Gen.27:39-40
I think it could be safely said that most all who read this story will be able to relate because most all of us have been wronged & hurt by family at some point. It’s bad enough when a friend hurts us but family is supposed to be that “safe zone,” where everyone is there for one another & looks out for one another.
People get a little crazy when someone dies or is near death. It literally brings out the worst in people. Relationships have been broken with parents, children, & siblings many times over material things. Families will hurt one another to the point of splintering & fracturing beyond belief.
This sets Esau up with a grudge against his brother & his plan is to kill him. Everything is gone for him. He is wronged on so many levels. Rebekah gets wind of Esau’s intentions [have you noticed that Rebecca is the major player in this story?] & tells Jacob he’d better “get out of Dodge” -& quick.
She instructs Jacob to go 400 miles away to her brothers place, his uncle Laban & she’ll let him know when Esau is no longer mad at him. This will all blow over quickly. Right? Wrong!
On his way to Haran where his uncle lived, Jacob stopped to sleep one night, using a stone for a pillow. I think I used one of those rock pillows a while back in a motel somewhere. As I remember there was a rock garden in the mattress also.
JACOB THE DREAMER & A TITHER
Jacob dreamed a spectacular dream that night & saw a stairway stretching from heaven to earth with angels walking up & down the ladder. Standing at the top of the ladder the Lord spoke to him promising protection for his journey. Gen. 28:13-15
The next morning Jacob took the stone he’d used as a pillow & poured oil on it & named the place Bethel, “the house of God.” Ever the pragmatist Jacob made a vow—if God comes through giving him food & clothes & lets him return home safely, then the Lord will be his God & he’ll give a tenth of his blessings to God.
When Jacob gets to his uncle Laban’s house, he finds out quickly that Laban is as big a crook & double-dealer as he is. Both these men would make good Las Vegas card sharks. Old Jake is about to get a dose of his own medicine.
Jacob is thunderstruck & falls in love with pretty Rachel the youngest daughter & Laban promises her to Jacob if he’ll work for him 7 years. Jacob becomes embroiled in a fierce tug of war between Rachel & the older less beautiful Leah & has eleven kids with them & their servants. He ends up working for Laban for 20 years & in his spare time manipulates the breeding of the flocks so that he has the strong cattle & Laban has the weak ones. That’s our boy!
Laban’s sons find out about the evil plan & tell their dad & the “fat’s in the fire.” Jacob slithers out of it by saying, --turn about is fair play.
Our story continues. Just before it’s too late God warns Jacob it’s time to leave & head back home so Jacob loads up, slips away & heads back to Canaan. Jacob leaves his uncles house a very rich man.
Laban is madder than an old wet-setting hen & pursues him & asks, “Why did you deceive me? You didn’t even let me say good-bye to my daughters & grandchildren.” At this point Jacob & Laban made a truce & set up stones as a boundary, promising they’d not pass this border to harm the other.
Laban made Jacob swear an oath not to mistreat his daughters or to take any other wives. Jacob complied. Laban kissed his family, blessed them & left for home.
Jacob now sends servants ahead to tell his brother Esau he was heading home. They return with some very interesting news. Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.
At this point Jacob freaked out & divided his company into two groups so Esau wouldn’t kill everyone. Jacob sent out three waves of gifts hoping they would somehow pacify Esau. In essence giving him some of his money back.
All Jacob could do now was wait. That night he sent his wives, servants, all his possessions & 11 sons to the other side of the Jabbok River. This river was actually a boundary between Jacob’s old life & his new life.
He remained alone that night, camping under the stars.
Jacob had a lot to think about. He probably thought about his lies, his deceptions & his fears. He had to be worried sick that his brother Esau was going to kill him. He had no way of knowing he was going to wrestle with God [the pre-incarnate Christ] all night long, until daybreak. Gen. 32:24-31.
JACOB’S LIFE NOW COMES FULL-CIRCLE
Jacob, who had wrestled with his brother Esau in the womb, wrestled with him all through childhood, had been wrestling with Laban for over 20 years, wrestled for position & power & wealth was going to have to wrestle with God.
God could have left a greasy spot where Jacob used to be but God doesn’t always do what He can do, He does what He wants to do. His intention wasn’t to kill Jacob but to change him.
But in this wrestling match we find one of the redeeming aspects of Jacob’s make-up; he wouldn’t let go of God. He refused to let go until he received a blessing.
Isn’t it true that often you & I give up too quick? We can learn something from Jacob. He would grab hold & refuse to quit until he was victorious. That night God changed Jacob. He even changed his name from Jacob to Israel.
After this encounter, Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life. When he makes an appearance in Hebrews 11, he’s at the end of his life & still ….leaning on his staff.
The next day Jacob meets Esau by himself, bowing to the ground seven times. Esau ran to meet him & embraced him, threw his arms around his neck & kissed him. And they wept…..Gen.33:3-4.
Jacob, relieved & totally frazzled out by the events of the last hours looked his brother in the eye—“Now that you have received me favorably to see your face is like seeing the face of God.-Gen.33:10
This story isn’t one we can make come together in a tidy package, wrap up & put a bow on & feel really good about. Yes these brothers did meet & seemingly patch things up. But if you follow the story after this, they went their own way & never saw each other again; neither did they see their mother again. I’m sure they had to deal with feelings of hurt, anger & bitterness for years to come.
What we can be assured of is that God is bigger than all our problems & hard feelings. Nothing is ever beyond repair with God. If we’ll allow Him to, He’ll reconcile us amid the ashes & rubble of our brokenness. God loved Jacob, He loved Esau, He loved Isaac & He loved Rebekah.
And God loves you & me. He loves each of us through the imperfections & sins of our lives. God is merciful & gracious. We might not want to give people second & third chances when they hurt us but God does. As in the lives of those in this “soap opera,” God’s will is accomplished regardless of how much we try to mess it up.
I can’t understand every little detail & every facet of what Jacob’s life meant. I wish I had more answers. But actually, all I need to do is simply to marvel at the fact that God was, & is in control & knowing that means everything to me.
I’m sure that Jacob was haunted many times by the thought that someday his brother would hang him from the nearest tree & leave him for buzzard food. After all Esau had vowed to kill him.
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED……
But a strange thing happened on the way to Jacob’s date with death; Esau’s heart was changed. Where there was bitterness there was now brotherly love. God’s tender mercies were working that day because God didn’t want to destroy, He wanted to reconcile.
God works on both ends of a situation. He not only worked all night on Jacob, he was working to change the heart & mind of Esau.
God showed Jacob, as He wants to show us through this story that regardless of the odds, & regardless of the way things might appear to be, He’s going to accomplish His ends, for our good & His glory. He doesn’t leave us to struggle through our problems alone.
If we believe that, what else matters?
Blessings,
John
I’ve never been a fan of soap operas.
I think the reason so many people enjoy the “soaps” is they make them feel normal. Or perhaps they make them feel that others are having more problems than they are.
There’s no put-down here. It’s just that I can get the same feeling from the six-o’clock news or movies for that matter.
If you like soap operas or if you just love a good story, you’re going to love this read. As in the “soaps,” we need a reminder of what’s gone before….. so here it is.
God called Abraham & Sarah to leave their home country & head out to the far land of Canaan, taking with them the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars. But for decades Sarah was unable to bear children until finally the birth of Isaac.
Isaac was a late bloomer, who at forty was still living in the basement of his parent’s tent. Concerned about the future of the family lineage, Abraham sends his servant back to his homeland to seek a bride for Isaac. He finds just the right one; a beautiful, generous, energetic & determined young lady named Rebekah. She responds to the stranger & agrees to go with him to a far away land to marry another stranger.
GOTTA LOVE THIS YOUNG WOMAN CALLED REBEKAH!
Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 years old. Speaking of soap operas…. Rebekah too was barren- so Isaac asked the Lord to let her bear children.
Have you ever noticed how many women in the Bible struggled to have children? Mary the mother of Jesus was a notable exception of course. Rebekah, like her mother-in-law Sarah, like Hannah the mother of Samuel, like Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, struggled with the reality that it was difficult for them to get pregnant.
God answered Isaac’s prayer & Rebekah got pregnant, but it was a difficult pregnancy. Twin boys were mixing it up inside her. In Genesis 25:22-23 when she inquired about this “young & restless” unborn duo, God answered; “you’re carrying two nations in your womb.”
These boys’ rambunctious little hands were already clawing at each other in Rebecca’s womb. They were at war before they saw the light of day.
The conflict goes on even to this day. Some say it’s the longest family feud in history.
Being a man, I can’t say much about the gynecological side of Sarah or Rebekah’s situation, [thank God] but I will make a theological comment. Isn’t it interesting that these were all women hand-picked by God to do His will in bringing the ones into the world He planned to use? But even though it was God’s will, still the process wasn’t easy. God wanted the babies to be born but it seemed so hard for them to get here.
Being willing to be used of God is a good thing but people often forget that being used of God has its struggles as well as its great blessings. Indeed, just because God is in a venture doesn’t necessarily guarantee smooth sailing. Paul got into a two-week storm on the high seas on his way to Rome.
When the twins, Jacob & Esau came out of the womb, one was red & the other was hairy. Jacob was grasping Esau’s heel. Jacob’s name actually means “Grabber” or “Supplanter.”
I don’t know if you saw the movie “Twins” with Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny De Vito. Believe it or not in the movie the pair supposedly was twins. Jacob & Esau were a bit like that; all the testosterone seemed to go to Esau. He’s born covered with hair & loves the outdoors & was probably the captain of his high school football team. Esau was also a skillful hunter, a man of the open country. With him what you saw was what you got, & he probably wore his heart on his sleeve.
Jacob was an introvert, a quiet man preferring to stay among the tents & be near his momma. He preferred cooking to killing. He was a good cook, & loved doing needlework. He thoroughly enjoyed helping out around the house. But the kid was clever & ambitious. If he grew up today, he’d probably be big crossword puzzle guy, more of a chess player than a football player like Esau. Isn’t it interesting that all these thousands of years later we can recognize in these very different brothers people we know?
Papa Isaac loved wild game so Esau the hunter was his favorite son. Rebekah was partial to Jacob. If you’re like me you ask yourself, what kind of family was this, showing partiality & favoritism to one child over the other? Where in the world did these brothers come from anyway; one smooth & smart, the other strong & hairy?
This is a real family. This is a real mother & a real father. Maybe they’re like your parents. Maybe these words were often spoken; “Look how good your brother is doing in school. Don’t you think you’d be wise to model yourself after him a bit more?”
Family dynamics are subtle & hard to understand, let alone untangle. Back before we adopted such sophisticated words like dysfunctional, people just came out with the truth: Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
It didn’t mean that both the parents didn’t love both the boys; it just means they each had a favorite son.
THE SIN OF FAVORITISM IS EGREGIOUS
The sin of favoritism in this family is terrible & it wounded deeply just as it does in families today. Favoritism is about as brutal & blunt an object as a person can be pummeled with. The neglected or seemingly unwanted child will often spend a lifetime yearning & competing for the love of a parent.
Just as is always the case in a family breakdown, the real crunch-time came over something trivial. In the case of Jacob & Esau, it was a bowl of stew.
This whole scene might not have happened if Isaac had taken his responsibility as a parent & transferred the birthright earlier. God had told Rebekah even before the birth of the boys that… the older would serve the younger.
One day Esau came in from working in the field & he was famished. Jacob has been puttering around the kitchen & has come up with some great smelling stew. Esau says, “Give me some of that red stuff.” Jacob says, “its not red stuff its bourguignon & you can’t have any.” “But why not” says Esau, “I’m starving.”
Esau made the worst possible deal. In Philippians 3:19 the apostle Paul speaks of those—whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, & whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things.
Esau traded the eternal for the temporal, the spiritual for the physical, & the unseen for the seen! Losing his birthright cost Esau his standing among God’s people. In Hebrews 12:16-17—lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright. For ye know that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.
Esau had no appreciation for what God was doing in his life. Life was about pleasure to Esau. Spiritual matters were a waste of time. Life was about pleasure.
JACOB-WHAT A GUY!
Watch carefully now as Jacob shows us his prowess in thinking on his feet. He’s a quick-witted opportunist. He’s neither afraid nor ashamed to take full advantage of the situation & he’s not above using deception & trickery.
But there’s something else. Jacob has been thinking about Esau’s birthright & what it meant. For one thing it meant he’d receive a double share of the inheritance which was intended for the eldest son. He also knows the promises that God made to Abraham & he values those promises.
But the birthright wasn’t all Jacob wanted. Not even close. I suspect that he wanted to be the one through whom the promises to Abraham would continue.
“O.K says Jacob, you give me your birthright, sign the family fortune over to me & make me the heir, make me the older brother—first born in the family & I’ll give you a little bowl of stew.”
Surely Esau is exaggerating about his hunger here. Surely he could have gotten food from one of the other tents. Maybe these brothers are still quite young & there’s an element of clowning around in what they’re doing. Maybe it starts out kidding but Jacob is deadly serious now.
Whatever the exact dynamics are here, one thing we know is, Esau despised his birthright. He didn’t value it, at least not now. He was one of those people who lived for today -“for tomorrow we die.” He had no time for things like birthrights & the big picture in life. His attitude was—you can’t eat a covenant. Consequently, because Esau frivolously bartered away his birthright, the promise didn’t pass to the elder child of Isaac.
Strike one against Jacob. He has tricked his brother & taken something extremely valuable.
Isaac was old now & could no longer see so he called Esau to his bedside. “Go to the open country, kill some wild game & prepare me the tasty food I like so much so I can give you my blessing before I die” he said.
Rebekah overheard the conversation. She told her favorite son Jacob to get himself in gear fast & kill two choice goats so she can prepare her dying husband the meal the way she knows he likes it.
Jacob didn’t only want the birthright & a double portion of the family inheritance; he wanted his father’s blessing too. Jacob was crooked but not dumb. He knew the inheritance wasn’t his but he wanted it anyway. He knew that he came from a line that was promised by God to do great things.
Jacob takes the skins & covers his arms & chest with the hair so he can fool his father, thus pulling the rug out from under Esau, stealing the blessing given the oldest son---the family fortune.
Jacob fools his father & by deception gets Esau’s blessing. Jacob had hardly left his father’s tent when Esau came in with a sumptuous meal he’d prepared from the game he’d killed.
When Isaac & Esau realized they’d been duped, they both reacted violently. Papa Isaac trembled all over. He has been deceived by his youngest son. Something promised to his older son Esau. What must he have thought? How sickening this must have been for him. Esau burst out in a loud bitter cry, “Bless me, bless me too my father.” Esau wept loudly, “Please give me a blessing too.”-Gen.27:39-40
I think it could be safely said that most all who read this story will be able to relate because most all of us have been wronged & hurt by family at some point. It’s bad enough when a friend hurts us but family is supposed to be that “safe zone,” where everyone is there for one another & looks out for one another.
People get a little crazy when someone dies or is near death. It literally brings out the worst in people. Relationships have been broken with parents, children, & siblings many times over material things. Families will hurt one another to the point of splintering & fracturing beyond belief.
This sets Esau up with a grudge against his brother & his plan is to kill him. Everything is gone for him. He is wronged on so many levels. Rebekah gets wind of Esau’s intentions [have you noticed that Rebecca is the major player in this story?] & tells Jacob he’d better “get out of Dodge” -& quick.
She instructs Jacob to go 400 miles away to her brothers place, his uncle Laban & she’ll let him know when Esau is no longer mad at him. This will all blow over quickly. Right? Wrong!
On his way to Haran where his uncle lived, Jacob stopped to sleep one night, using a stone for a pillow. I think I used one of those rock pillows a while back in a motel somewhere. As I remember there was a rock garden in the mattress also.
JACOB THE DREAMER & A TITHER
Jacob dreamed a spectacular dream that night & saw a stairway stretching from heaven to earth with angels walking up & down the ladder. Standing at the top of the ladder the Lord spoke to him promising protection for his journey. Gen. 28:13-15
The next morning Jacob took the stone he’d used as a pillow & poured oil on it & named the place Bethel, “the house of God.” Ever the pragmatist Jacob made a vow—if God comes through giving him food & clothes & lets him return home safely, then the Lord will be his God & he’ll give a tenth of his blessings to God.
When Jacob gets to his uncle Laban’s house, he finds out quickly that Laban is as big a crook & double-dealer as he is. Both these men would make good Las Vegas card sharks. Old Jake is about to get a dose of his own medicine.
Jacob is thunderstruck & falls in love with pretty Rachel the youngest daughter & Laban promises her to Jacob if he’ll work for him 7 years. Jacob becomes embroiled in a fierce tug of war between Rachel & the older less beautiful Leah & has eleven kids with them & their servants. He ends up working for Laban for 20 years & in his spare time manipulates the breeding of the flocks so that he has the strong cattle & Laban has the weak ones. That’s our boy!
Laban’s sons find out about the evil plan & tell their dad & the “fat’s in the fire.” Jacob slithers out of it by saying, --turn about is fair play.
Our story continues. Just before it’s too late God warns Jacob it’s time to leave & head back home so Jacob loads up, slips away & heads back to Canaan. Jacob leaves his uncles house a very rich man.
Laban is madder than an old wet-setting hen & pursues him & asks, “Why did you deceive me? You didn’t even let me say good-bye to my daughters & grandchildren.” At this point Jacob & Laban made a truce & set up stones as a boundary, promising they’d not pass this border to harm the other.
Laban made Jacob swear an oath not to mistreat his daughters or to take any other wives. Jacob complied. Laban kissed his family, blessed them & left for home.
Jacob now sends servants ahead to tell his brother Esau he was heading home. They return with some very interesting news. Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.
At this point Jacob freaked out & divided his company into two groups so Esau wouldn’t kill everyone. Jacob sent out three waves of gifts hoping they would somehow pacify Esau. In essence giving him some of his money back.
All Jacob could do now was wait. That night he sent his wives, servants, all his possessions & 11 sons to the other side of the Jabbok River. This river was actually a boundary between Jacob’s old life & his new life.
He remained alone that night, camping under the stars.
Jacob had a lot to think about. He probably thought about his lies, his deceptions & his fears. He had to be worried sick that his brother Esau was going to kill him. He had no way of knowing he was going to wrestle with God [the pre-incarnate Christ] all night long, until daybreak. Gen. 32:24-31.
JACOB’S LIFE NOW COMES FULL-CIRCLE
Jacob, who had wrestled with his brother Esau in the womb, wrestled with him all through childhood, had been wrestling with Laban for over 20 years, wrestled for position & power & wealth was going to have to wrestle with God.
God could have left a greasy spot where Jacob used to be but God doesn’t always do what He can do, He does what He wants to do. His intention wasn’t to kill Jacob but to change him.
But in this wrestling match we find one of the redeeming aspects of Jacob’s make-up; he wouldn’t let go of God. He refused to let go until he received a blessing.
Isn’t it true that often you & I give up too quick? We can learn something from Jacob. He would grab hold & refuse to quit until he was victorious. That night God changed Jacob. He even changed his name from Jacob to Israel.
After this encounter, Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life. When he makes an appearance in Hebrews 11, he’s at the end of his life & still ….leaning on his staff.
The next day Jacob meets Esau by himself, bowing to the ground seven times. Esau ran to meet him & embraced him, threw his arms around his neck & kissed him. And they wept…..Gen.33:3-4.
Jacob, relieved & totally frazzled out by the events of the last hours looked his brother in the eye—“Now that you have received me favorably to see your face is like seeing the face of God.-Gen.33:10
This story isn’t one we can make come together in a tidy package, wrap up & put a bow on & feel really good about. Yes these brothers did meet & seemingly patch things up. But if you follow the story after this, they went their own way & never saw each other again; neither did they see their mother again. I’m sure they had to deal with feelings of hurt, anger & bitterness for years to come.
What we can be assured of is that God is bigger than all our problems & hard feelings. Nothing is ever beyond repair with God. If we’ll allow Him to, He’ll reconcile us amid the ashes & rubble of our brokenness. God loved Jacob, He loved Esau, He loved Isaac & He loved Rebekah.
And God loves you & me. He loves each of us through the imperfections & sins of our lives. God is merciful & gracious. We might not want to give people second & third chances when they hurt us but God does. As in the lives of those in this “soap opera,” God’s will is accomplished regardless of how much we try to mess it up.
I can’t understand every little detail & every facet of what Jacob’s life meant. I wish I had more answers. But actually, all I need to do is simply to marvel at the fact that God was, & is in control & knowing that means everything to me.
I’m sure that Jacob was haunted many times by the thought that someday his brother would hang him from the nearest tree & leave him for buzzard food. After all Esau had vowed to kill him.
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED……
But a strange thing happened on the way to Jacob’s date with death; Esau’s heart was changed. Where there was bitterness there was now brotherly love. God’s tender mercies were working that day because God didn’t want to destroy, He wanted to reconcile.
God works on both ends of a situation. He not only worked all night on Jacob, he was working to change the heart & mind of Esau.
God showed Jacob, as He wants to show us through this story that regardless of the odds, & regardless of the way things might appear to be, He’s going to accomplish His ends, for our good & His glory. He doesn’t leave us to struggle through our problems alone.
If we believe that, what else matters?
Blessings,
John
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