A Guess Is Usually Inaccurate

Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.  Genesis 27:38

Rebekah played the part of God and she and her sons, and their descendants, suffered.  She and Isaac had played favorites between their two sons and encouraged unhealthy competition.  Usually, these urges to draw closer to one child than the other emerge from a defect in a marriage.  When emotional and spiritual needs go unmet between a husband and a wife, one or both often turn to a child to find camaraderie and comfort.

Rebekah devised a scheme where Jacob would dress up like his brother, go into the presence of Isaac, and steal the blessing reserved for the firstborn.  Maybe Rebekah believed that Isaac’s outrage would be short-lived, that Esau would go hunting for a while and his father would get over it.  And Jacob?  Well, she expected that he would prosper because he possessed the blessing. 

She was wrong on all counts!  Esau was, from that day on, bent on revenge.  Rebekah had to send Jacob away for his own safety and though she believed it would only be for a short time, she never saw him again before her own death.  As for Jacob, the blessed one, he suffered the effects of others’ deceptive schemes against him for much of his life.

Sin has deeper consequences than I ever envision.  When I am poised in a pivotal moment of decision, deciding whether sin is worth it or not, I often make calculations based on my limited knowledge of people and of God.  But my own spiritual blindness fails to see the gravity of a choice made against the glory of God.  What I believe to be some insignificant act really has the power to eat away at the spiritual health of my family for generations to come.  Whatever precipice I stand upon today, the one where action has not yet been taken, I have two choices.  1.) I can venture my best guess about the future, then move ahead to force things to work the way I believe they should.  Or, 2.) I can repent of my faithlessness and leave all possible interventions to a wise Father.

I’ve already seen it!  Sinful consequences cannot be measured.  Many have been worse than I predicted.  You are a Father who mercifully redeems all my messes.  Amen