Old Sandals

“How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”

Joseph owned up to his personal responsibility to God. He could have been a very bitter young man. Instead, he trusted the LORD with his circumstances.

Esau was Isaac’s firstborn. He was the rightful heir to the special blessing given the oldest son. But the special blessing wasn’t special enough to Esau; he traded it away for a bowl of stew.

Esau was a man of this world. Spiritual things apparently meant little to him. After the death of his father Isaac, he returned to Edom and became the father of a great nation, but sadly, a nation that seemingly followed in the footsteps of their patriarch, steps that led away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Bible isn’t a story of man’s exploits. It often describes his failures. It is rather the story of God’s exploits, i.e. – his faithfulness and covenental determination to bless a called-out people.

“Then they slaughtered every male there, including Hamor and his son Shechem.”

Jacob had been a deceitful man, but he was never a violent man. His sons however, in exacting revenge for their sister Dinah, were not only deceitful, but murderous. How would God use this?

What a strange meeting between Jacob and Esau. Jacob bowed low to the ground before his brother. Esau ran to greet him. There were hugs and tears.

And yet, jacob would go no farther to restore the relationship. Perhaps he thought that if he told his brother that he must get back to Caanan – the land promised to their grandfather, to their father Isaac and to his descendants – Esau’s wrath would be kindled, and he and his family would be in grave danger.

God did not require Jacob to lie to his brother; but he did so, and journeyed to Succoth instead of Seir.
God knew Jacob’s weaknesses, and his innermost desires. And He used them both.

Jacob wrestled with a “man” – an angel of God -all night long, and prevailed. In so doing, his name was changed to Israel.

Who started the fight? Jacob had prayed earnestly earlier that day, appealing to God’s faithfulness and his promises to him and to his father and grandfather before him. Apparently, Jacob’s appeals became more fervent as the day wore on.

Perhaps earnest, life-changing prayer is a lot like a wrestling match.

“For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks.”

Jacob spent twenty years working for his uncle Laban, who changed his wages ten times! God used a deceitful relative to teach Jacob a lesson; Jacob himself had deceived his father Isaac in order to receive the blessing belonging to the firstborn.

And yet the plan of God – this “fearsome God of Isaac” – is fulfilled, even through men and women whose hearts are deceitful.

Perhaps Jacob knew something about genetics or epigenetics when he placed the peeled limbs in the watering troughs. Perhaps the LORD instructed Jacob to do it (even though it’s not mentioned) as an act of obedience preceding a miracle. The bottom line is this: that the LORD was determined to bless Jacob.

The bottom line is often all that we can (or really need to) understand this side of eternity.