Life is Messy

A series on the story of redemption – Part II
The story of Isaac
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-40 

[Everybody has a story. Even God has one. His is a story about love and redemption and faithfulness. In this series we are going to take a closer look at God’s story through the lives of the people that He touched. How their story became His story of redemption. And how your story is also a part of it.]

  

Life can be messy sometimes. Things happen. Life happens. People happen. That’s the real problem… people! If it wasn’t for people, life would be so much better; much less messy. But people are here to stay with the result being that life is messy.

 

Isaac started off so promising. He was a child of the Lord’s promise. The fulfillment of the covenant between the Lord and Abraham. He was the hope and dream for Sarah. Isaac was the golden child. Even when it came to finding a wife for him, Abraham went to great lengths to make sure that she believed in the same God.

 

But then, life got messy. Rebekah was unable to have children, so Isaac pleaded with the Lord to give her a child. His prayer was answered when she became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled within her womb, so she asked the Lord why? His answer was unsettling.

 

²³ And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”    Genesis 25    NLT

 

The first sign of a problem happened when Esau came home from the wilderness. At the time, Jacob was preparing some stew. Famished and exhausted, Esau demanded that Jacob give him some.

 

Seeing a great opportunity, Jacob shrewdly negotiated the best deal ever when he asked for, and received, Esau’s birthright as the first-born son. This means that Jacob would receive a double portion of the inheritance, plus the position and authority of Abraham. All of this for a bowl of stew.

 

Esau was Isaac’s favorite and Jacob was Rebekah’s. These dynamics came bubbling to the surface when Isaac was old and ready to give Esau his blessing. Overhearing this, Rebekah put a plan into action so that Jacob could steal the blessing. The plan worked to perfection. Assuming that it was Esau, Isaac gave Jacob this blessing.

 

²⁹ 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.”              Genesis 27    NIV

 

Needless to say, this led to bad blood between Esau and Jacob. Even to the point that Esau planned to kill Jacob once Isaac died. Learning of Esau’s plans, Rebekah once again manipulated the situation to send Jacob away with the birthright and the promise of the Lord’s covenant.

 

Life was messy for Isaac, even though he had a sincere faith in the Lord. There were times when the Lord spoke to him, affirming the covenant of his father Abraham. Isaac embraced this covenant and passed it along to Jacob.

 

This is a very messy chapter in God’s plan of redemption. You’d think he could have found some better people to fulfill his plan. But the Lord is sovereign. And in his sovereignty, he used ordinary sinful people to carry his message of redemption through the generations.

 

Life is messy, and the Lord still uses messy people to continue his plan of redemption.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com