Over the next few weeks I want to re-publish a series that I wrote a few years ago on the man Jacob. We will call this series "Jacob to Israel a life transformed" We will start in Genesis:27 and go through to Genesis:35 and look at how God transformed a man from himself to Himself.
So lets start with some background, Jacob is one half of the twin sons of Issac and Rebekah. Jacob is the younger brother whilst Esau is the older brother. Esau is a hunter and only appears to be interested in himself and his well being. He does not appear to have much interest in the spiritual just in satisfying his own self. Esau is tricked out of his birth right, that is the heir to all that is rightfully his as the elder son, by his younger brother Jacob who by all accounts is not much better. Jacob appears to be a mummy's boy always helping out in the kitchen. The Bible tells us that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob (Genesis 25:28). As we read through the chapter it becomes apparent that there appears to be a dispute going on as to who is going to inherit. Esau rightly assumed that all was his as the elder son, Jacob believed he had an equal share being only a few minutes younger. Jacob, by all accounts, being encouraged by his mother, began to manipulate situations and circumstances for his own benefit. It would appear that Jacob had not learned from the stories he had heard about his Grandfather Abraham, who had spent a life time waiting Gods time. It is worth just stopping and reflecting here on our own lives and how many times we try to force Gods hand before it is Gods time.
Issac is now an old man and ready to die, interestingly he does not die for another 20 years or so, but the text tells us that he was old and that he was not sure if the time of his death was imminent, but he was preparing for it anyway. He calls Esau and asks him to go hunting for him, Rebekah, his wife, overhears and gets Jacob in on the act and together they conspire to deceive Issac and so rob Esau of what was rightfully his. Jacob means schemer or twister, in essence he was a young man fully intent on getting what he wanted and what he thought was his by right. Jacob only thought about Jacob, just like all of the fallen human race before him and since him. I want you to take note at this point at how low he had fallen, to the point that he is prepared to deceive and lie to his ailing father. It is only when we recognise how fallen we are can God begin to work the work of restoration and transformation in our lives.
So back to our story, Jacob brings the food into Issac and he is asked by Issac "How have you done this so quickly?" to which Jacob replies "The Lord your God brought it to me" Genesis 27:20 . Firstly what a lie, secondly, and more importantly, Jacob used the words 'your God', not 'my God'. How many of us only know God by proxy, by experiencing through someone else? We will see later how the God of Abraham and Issac became the God of Jacob. All of us have to know God personally, not by proxy. We will never be able to be any use to God unless He is our God
Jacob's lie and Rebekah's deceit caused no end of problems, so much so that Jacob had to run away. The truth is God is bigger and greater than all that we do or say and He makes Himself known to the willing heart in His way and His time. Are we prepared to stop and listen or are we still running?
We will see how God deals with Jacob in the next post.
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