Reading: Genesis 27:1-23

The reading above talks about Jacob, Esau, and blessings. I am sure most people are recognizant of this story. It shows how we can receive blessings. The story can be thought of as a play where Isaac, Jacob and Esau’s father plays the role of God, Rebecca, their mother plays Jesus, and Jacob representing those who live by faith (Just accepting what God says regardless of how stupid it sounds or illogical or preposterous it is.), and Esau playing those who believe they must work to get blessings from God.

If, for example, I want to give a gift to someone, I must know if that person actually likes the gift. If I decide to give a friend a puppy, just because puppies are cute, and not knowing that he/she is allergic to puppies, even though the gesture is well-intended, it going to cause harm to the receiver of the puppy.

There is such thing referred to as the “heart of God”. Before we do something for God, we must know exactly what pleases God. Nothing pleases him if not FAITH – Heb 11:6, and that comes only from the word of God, Rom 10:17.

Starting from Gen 27: 4, when Isaac requested the savoury meat from Esau, he made it clear he wants it “such as I love”. He likes his meat cook in a particular way.

People, Rebecca is Isaac’s wife and she has been cooking for Isaac for decades. If there is anyone who knows how to cook to please Isaac, it surely is Rebecca.

Anyway, Esau, not taking this “such as I love” seriously, just relied on his strength, his ability to hunt and cook, and left to get the venison – the meat.

Jacob on the other hand was directed by the mother to just serve Isaac what she cooked. Gen 27:8.

If we pay attention to verse 9 of the chapter, Rebecca says she will make savoury meat for Isaac “such as he loveth”. She knows Isaac’s taste.

When Jacob complained about the fact that he was not hairy as the brother, Rebecca put goat’s skin on his arm and neck. When he complained that his father will recognize him and curse him, Rebecca puts Esau’s clothe on him and more important said “Upon me be thy curse, my son”. Jacob then sent the meal, prepared by Rebecca, to Isaac and he was blessed. He just accepted whatever Rebecca told him - The act of faith.

Just as Jacob, we also do not know the heart of God, we are not skillful in any way, we are not smart, we have sinned and we continue to sin, there is nothing worthy of good in us, Rom 3:10-18. But if we listen to Rebecca (Jesus in our case), we receive total forgiveness of sin, the blessing David referred to in Rom 4:6-7.

In Gen 27:17, Jacob boldly responded he was Esau when queried by the father. He was not Esau; we all know that. But when he received the heart of the mother, he could confidently proclaim that he was Esau. In this same vein, we too must accept that we possess the same state as God who is holy, perfect, and righteous-1 John 4:17, Heb 10:14 because we have accepted what Jesus had done for us. Just as Jacob, we can also confidently proclaim we are righteous, holy, and perfect regardless of what we see or what our logic tells us. This is the act of faith.

“Oh, what if I sin again?”. We must know as long as we are on this earth, unpleasant and undesirable things will surely come out of us. But does that nullify Jesus’ work for us? Far from it. How can we humans have stronger power than Jesus to quash or invalidate what he has established? No, in no way. Just as Rebecca who said, “Upon me be thy curse, my son”, we too have Jesus who intercedes on our behalf, whether we know it or not. 1 John 2:1-2. Christ is our advocate. He fights our battles and wars for us because he only knows what it takes to win such. He defends us. We must know this and be thankful.

We might want to do something with our strength like Esau but, that does not get us the blessings as we saw earlier. It is only Jesus who knows EXACTLY the heart of God. Therefore, just accepting what he has done automatically qualifies us for the blessings. He is sufficient, 2 Cor 12:9 and we are complete in him, Col 2:10. Stop talking about your weaknesses, praying for sins, etc, and rather focus on Jesus like the bronze serpent on the pole. Be grateful.

Let us keep hope alive!