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And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!  Genesis 28:12

Jacob is on his way to find a wife in Paddam Haran.  On the way, he stops to get some sleep and has a dream.  Earth is connected to heaven by a ladder.  On it, angels are going back and forth between the two worlds. The story doesn’t say that angels came down – and then went up.  It reveals the angels first ascended – before they descended. 

It’s a good reminder that angels live with us, seeing to our needs, doing God’s work, and following God’s orders.  Their daily activities transcend two realms, the physical on earth and the spiritual in heaven.  So much happens in the supernatural!  God’s purposes are being carried out today by His army of angels.  He is Commander in Chief of them all.  While I don’t worship them, I’m in awe of the God they serve and the reason they were sent here.  Their activities speak of the vastness of God’s prevailing love for His children.  He ordained angels to serve us.

They are protecting us, singing to us, bringing us God’s specific word for us, soothing the ragged edges of our souls, and providing cover when the enemy comes close.  Right now, at the right hand of the Father, additional orders are being given to care for us, and that care continues until the day we arrive home to God’s arms.  We are not orphans – left to fend for ourselves.  The Holy Spirit lives and works inside of us and angels live and work around us.  

The kingdom realm is meant to be more real to me than the tangible world I can see, taste, and feel.  God connects me to it as He communes with me in my Spirit.  In January of 2007, I prayed, “Lord, open the heavens and show me your glory!”  It was my prayer every day that year and I will tell you that He did that so creatively.  It was a year of heightened understanding of the scriptures, increased dreams, and beholding the glory of God in places I was previously unaware. 

Most likely, at this very moment, angels are ascending to the throne on our behalf and will come back later today with God’s answer.

I am often consumed by earth and the futility of what happens here.  I step out of this world into the kingdom.  I am your well-cared-for child in a vast universe, attended to by angels.  Just like You, Jesus.  Amen

May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”  Genesis 28:4

Isaac’s blessing to Jacob is beautiful and trustworthy.  However, while the spiritual inheritance passed on from Abraham is a sure thing for Jacob, it’s not just handed to him on a silver platter.  A heavenly promise requires proactive participants.  Isaac reveals to his son that he will have to take possession of the land of promise by force.

How many years have I waited for God to deliver something only to discover that its delivery involved a collaborative effort! All spiritual inheritances must be fought for.  Satan is intent on thwarting every purpose of God in my life.  He doesn’t want me to have it.  I can be sure that realizing my destiny will involve a battle.

Along the way, there are skirmishes when I can rest and know that God is fighting for me but in the larger context, my spiritual life is carved out with prayer, strategy, and endurance.  Figuring out when to wait and when to advance is something only revealed in prayer.  If I don’t know how to hear God’s voice, I won’t know which posture to take.

It is a carnal thing to advance and take things by force whenever I feel that I am stuck.  Sometimes people are against me.  With God on my side, do I really believe I can just go in to settle the score with some harsh words? And when circumstances are against me, should I really manipulate circumstances to work in my favor?

 Both would be mistakes. God is the shaper of circumstances and the renovator of people.  My part is to intercede and stand in the promises of scripture.  At some point, God will say ‘move!’  When I do, I will notice that all the red lights have turned green.  Worship will be the result. And worship, while waiting, is usually the proactive stance that brings about an open door. 

Waiting doesn’t mean passivity!  I see that now, Lord.  I direct all my pent-up energy to active worship.  Amen

Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.”  Genesis 28:1-2

Jacob is ‘set apart’ by his father and instructed not to marry anyone outside of his faith.  He is still young and cannot know how easily wrong companions will corrupt his faith in God.  Isaac doesn’t just ask Jacob to comply, he commands it.  A command will protect him when he’s ignorant of the consequences.

The company I keep has long-term effects on me, and eventually, everyone close to me.  When I am impacted by someone else’s influence, for the good and for the bad, it leaks out into all my relationships.   Children, spouses, friends, and people I serve in business and ministry, will all feel the repercussions of my alliances.

God made us to interact with one another.  This doesn’t happen with inanimate objects.  If I wrapped a knife and fork together in a napkin, put them in a drawer for 10 years, then unwrapped them, they would be as I last handled them.  But put two people together in the same space for a week and they will have been impacted by the other person. 

I consider how easily relationships form.  An act of kindness, a gift given, or attention bestowed; can capture another’s heart.  Their guard will come down.  Oh, how easily Jacob could have fallen for a Canaanite woman.  It might have taken only one soft encounter.  Isaac knew that and sent him away from all temptation.

Life is a series of course corrections.  I draw close to some and pull away from others.  May those I invite to live close be those who encourage me to love Jesus more.  May I be willing to take a careful step back from alliances that were made in haste and made foolishly.  The long-term effect on me and my descendants depends on both intentional choices.

I consider all your commands in a new light today.  Amen

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

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.  The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”  He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”  Genesis 27:18-27

It’s hard, isn’t it?  There are times when I fail to listen to my gut talking and pay dearly for it.  But then, there are as just as many times when I follow my gut instinct and make disastrous choices.  The need to be led by spiritual understanding rather than my fallible sense of things is crucial.

I’m reviewing this scene from Isaac’s life.  He’s old, nearly blind, and quite vulnerable.  He’s about to be deceived so that Jacob can get the firstborn-blessing.  Isaac is the means to an end.  He does not know it though.  He assumes that his family treats him honorably.

His first instinct was right.  He believed it to be Jacob’s voice and he was right but as soon as he felt his son’s hands, he was confused.  Knowing that blindness impairs judgment, he should have stopped and asked the Lord for insight.  Instead, he made a crucial decision with his senses.

There are times I will swear something is true.  I have mounted my evidence, feel something strongly in my heart, and no one can tell me otherwise.  Time goes by and I discover that I was completely wrong.  I didn’t have all the facts.  My judgment, like that of Isaac, was impaired by something I didn’t acknowledge.  Humility, the kind that comes after failure, is incurred with much remorse.  None are infallible because of some innate giftedness.

I am not advocating becoming an insecure person who wrings their hands over all matters great and small.  Far from it.  Great strength and confidence can be mine but only as I depend on God’s wisdom in all matters.  With Him, minefields are exposed and disasters can be averted.

With your enemy out to deceive and trap, I don’t have a chance without supernatural eyesight.  Thank you for promising all the help I need.  Amen

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”  Genesis 27:6-10

You’ve heard the words.  Or, you might have spoken these words.  “He won’t know the difference.  He’s out of it!”  This is Rebekah’s attitude as she sets out to trick her husband.  Isaac is nearly blind and it’s true that he won’t be aware if Jacob dresses up to pose as his twin brother, Esau.  The rest of the story is infamous.

Old age invites the reckless behavior of someone younger.  Visit an elderly person who is unaware of time and it’s tempting to stay two minutes instead of twenty – just because you know they won’t remember or know the difference.  But here’s the thing ~ God’s Spirit asks the penetrating question, “Who, in my name, are you taking advantage of?”

The feeble, frail, and helpless, are the ones over whom God is most passionate.  Mistreat them and His anger is kindled.  It doesn’t just apply to the older population.  Each person I am in a relationship with has a place of frailty, a tender spot where they are vulnerable. In my flesh, I can smell an opportunity to gratify myself at their expense.  But when I reach out to the feeble, to the ‘least of these, Jesus says that I am really interacting with Him. 

I am 68 years old.  No longer a thirty-something, I am clearly in the last quarter of my life.  Because of this, I can see the possibility of a younger person treating me as if I’m clueless.  They would assume I’m not as fast, or as aware, or as technologically savvy as they are.  And the truth is, I am no match technologically to someone in their twenties, as hard as I might work at staying current.  I don’t like how this bias feels but know that this is just the way it is. 

What is humbling and unfortunate though is when I bring this same disrespect to those who might be weaker, those who might not be as informed as I am in a certain area, or be as healthy as me, or are as young. The burning question is this:  How would Jesus treat them?  Would He take shortcuts?  I doubt it.  Integrity and respect must be the hallmarks of attitudes and interactions.   Whatever I do is for the glory or the dishonor of Christ.

Help me see Your face in the faces of the feeble, beginning at home.  Amen

He [Isaac} said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.  Genesis 27:2-8

Is your spiritual rudder straight?  When you see evil winning, do you live frustrated?  What if it were in your power to make righteousness win, would you do it?  Would it be wrong to make it happen?

Rebekah didn’t think so.  As a mother, she knew the hearts of both of her sons.  Esau was bent toward rebellion; Jacob toward God.  Esau, by birthright, was normally the one to whom the blessing would fall.  (She forgot that God had already worked this out when the babies were in her womb. Gen.25:23)  When an opportunity presents itself to make things right, for her nearly blind husband to pass the blessing onto their younger son, she quickly conceives a plan.  She believes that the future of her family rests on her shoulders. 

Do I believe that?  Do I ever play God in my family’s life?  Influencing them and controlling them are two different things.  And sinful people can be controlling.  We are strong personalities with definite opinions.  Given time, we can weave a convincing argument when we believe in something.  But here’s the question.  Are we trying to control someone where God is already at work?  His plan is perfect.  His timing is perfect.  He knows the hearts of the people who are involved.  Do we really think we know them better than Him?  If we believe that we need to compensate for God’s seeming inactivity, we are acting out of unbelief.  Faith is absent.

There are times that God calls each of us to take a stand and wield spiritual power prayerfully.  That’s easier than the alternative; taking a stand and wielding power prematurely because we’re afraid God isn’t going to do anything.  Rebekah wanted something holy.  For this, I commend her.  Her methods, however, were deplorable.

Give me grace to ignore the ticking of my own clock and to wait on You. Amen

[Abimelech] said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,that you will do us no harm. So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Beersheba.  Genesis 26:28-33

Seeds of the kingdom are highly reproductive.  If I plant something simple today, in faith, God will multiply the effects of it.  I may believe that what I offered was meager but that’s not the way God looks at it. What happened at Beersheba is a prime example.  As you review the chain of historical events with me, focus on the implications for your own story.

• Abraham and King Abimelech made a covenant on this piece of land regarding water rights.  Grateful that he could settle there, Abraham named the place ‘Beersheba’, the place of seven wells.
• His son, Isaac, also made a covenant with King Abimelech at Beersheba over water rights.  The King admitted that he was in awe of God’s obvious favor on Isaac.  After the ceremony, Isaac re-confirmed the name of the place ‘Beersheba’.
• Jacob will have the most significant spiritual experience of his life at Beersheba.  It will be here that he wrestles with the Lord and settles his own calling to lead God’s people.
• Nehemiah will return with the exiles to Beersheba, a momentous event in the restoration of God’s people to their own land.
• Beersheba will become the administrative center for the whole region, famous for its commerce and fortresses.

Touched by God, indeed.

People can be blessed.  Land can be blessed.  Words can be blessed.  Touches can be blessed.  There are no limits.  The Spirit will hover over what is consecrated to God.  When God’s finger touches the ordinary, it becomes extraordinary!  When I turn my face toward heaven and exclaim that my home, finances, children, calling, and even my pain…. are offered to God as sacrificial acts of worship, heaven comes down.  The spiritual seeds that are planted will multiply exponentially and I can count on seeing the cataclysmic results.

I have never been able to forecast what You will do. Ah, but Lord, many times You’ve done more than I dreamed.  In faith, I wait for what is yet to be seen.  Amen

From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.  Genesis 26:23-25

Has God spoken to you in the land of your youth?  Have you visited your birthplace, prayerfully pondered your beginnings, and tried from an adult’s perspective to discern God’s purposes?  If so, I hope you landed on the theological truth that not one detail of your life was a mistake from the vantage point of God’s sovereignty.

Isaac visited home after he had lived a long time, too.  He went home to Beersheba, the land of his youth.  It is there that God spoke to him.  He heard the same blessing that his father heard so many years ago.  It was there that he dug another well, and providentially, found water.

Going back home to visit is a different experience for each person.  While it can be wonderful for one, it can be extremely painful for another.  One thing is certain; it reveals whether or not I have made peace with my past. It doesn’t even require visiting the house where I grew up.  (Most can’t do that anyway.)  All I have to do is take a day and walk down a few familiar streets.  Memories will come flooding back.

There are truths I must embrace as God’s child.  There was a blessing for me in my beginnings.  God promised to be with me.  I can claim that for the present but fail to know it regarding the past as I review my life from a school playground. The promise can be real about my future but vague as I process memories from my adolescence.

Isaac went home to spend his final years where it all began.  He found God there!  Can’t you feel the peace in that statement?  So it is with my life.  I will have no strong purpose or closure if I can’t make peace with the past.  God’s voice can be heard in my childhood, but I must be willing to hear it.  Proclamations of love and blessing grate against my heart’s grain if I’m unwilling to pursue the treasures of the darkness from days long ago.  They’re there, and they’re abundant, but are found in the wisdom and compassion of a Father who promises to redeem every single thing that stunted my growth.  Until now . . .

You didn’t arrive on the scene halfway through my life and ignore my beginnings.  Help me see evidence of your blessing and care in every season of my life.  Amen

But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”  Genesis 26:19-22

If following Christ were easy, more would do it. Oftentimes the markers are hard to decipher.  I wonder how discouraged Isaac was as he sought for a place to settle.  Everywhere he tried to put down roots, there were obstacles.

Because a well was critical to survival, the first thing Isaac explored was an adequate water supply.  At each site, he re-dug the wells that Abraham had originally dug, the very ones that the Philistines had filled in with dirt.  I can imagine him celebrating as water bubbled up again in them.  But then, arguments from resident people erupted about whose well it really was.  Cramped quarters caused Isaac to move on. God used the selfishness of others and tight quarters to guide Isaac to his rightful place.  Isaac named the 3^rd well ‘Rehoboth’ ~ which means broad places.

It has been my experience that God has used cramped quarters and discontent to move me to my own promised land.  But while I was conflicted, I misread my circumstances.  I accused God of leading me to a place of unhappiness.  I even second-guessed the steps that led me there.

Like my spiritual fathers, I can be called to camp somewhere for a little while.  God shows me that it just might be time to move on when arguments erupt, and quarters become too cramped.  My discontent is often a flashing marker that it’s time to gather my things.

I wonder if Isaac knew, from his father’s stories, that God uses adversity and the sins of others to guide His children to better places.  Hmm, I seem to recall that Abraham and Lot were also cramped.  God used that to separate them.  Lot chose Sodom, Abraham went to his land of blessing.  If I can stop writhing in my discomfort and ask God to show me the bigger picture, I would see my angst as a gift.  It propels me out of my spiritual cocoon into my own ‘Rohobeth’.

Though pain has felt senseless in my past, there has been no such thing, Lord.  You used it all for my good.  Even, and especially, other’s sins against me.  Amen