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

 

 

 

Well Done My Son

A Series on Living by Faith
(Use the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 26:1-25; Hebrews 11:20

 [Hebrews 11 is a recounting of the Heroes of the Faith. Even though they never saw what they had been promised, each person is commended for living “by faith”. At the end of these commendations, Hebrews 12 tells us, “Therefore, because you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… throw off sin; run with perseverance; fix your eyes on Jesus”. In other words, live “by faith”.]

  

Sibling rivalry. If you grew up in a family with more than one child, you may be intimately familiar with what this phrase means. In fact, you may have experienced it for much of your childhood, and maybe even as an adult.

 

My oldest sister and brother had a fierce sibling rivalry. Although I wasn’t born yet, they tell stories of how they competed with each other. The one that sticks in my mind the most took place while riding in the car when Susan would say, “Dwight’s looking at me”! They knew exactly how to push each other’s buttons.

 

Isaac may be best known for the sibling rivalry of his twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Their rivalry started while they were still in the womb of their mother Rebekah, and continued throughout their adult years. It culminated in Jacob stealing, not only Esau’s birthright, but his blessing too. Out of this family mess, Isaac is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a Hero of the Faith. But why?

 

When a famine came, the Lord told Isaac to not flee to Egypt, but to stay. Isaac obeyed, and it was during this difficult time that the Lord confirmed Abraham’s covenant with him.

 

³ Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed…       NIV

 

Because of Isaac’s faithfulness, his crops grew a hundredfold; and he had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. In fact, he became so wealthy and powerful, that the king of the Philistines asked him to leave.

 

It was another setback that Isaac had to face. Even more difficult was finding water. His Father Abraham had previously dug wells in the area, but the herdsmen had filled them with dirt. Then when Isaac’s servants would dig and find a new well, the herdsmen would claim the water was theirs. Finally though, he found a well that he could call his own, and made his home there.

 

Clearly Isaac wasn’t a perfect person. He had faced adversity throughout his life. From the time his father was about to sacrifice him; to living in the land of the Philistines homeless; to dealing with a son who lied to his face to steal his blessing. And yet, he is recognized as living “by faith”.

 

I find great hope in Isaac. Hope that someone like me who is far from perfect; who has dealt with adversity; who has struggled to live faithfully… will someday find the love and affirmation of his Heavenly Father when he says, “Well done my son. Well done”.