Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob. —Genesis 25:28
A few years ago, a well-meaning soul in the congregation shared a remark that sticks with me. She said, “I don’t know how you do it sometimes. Honestly. Having to work with a group like us? I give you a lot of credit.”
How does God’s work get gone, she honestly wondered, with people like us? This story in Genesis 25 of dad Jacob, mom Rebekah, and their twins Esau and Jacob is a great way to speak to what she observed.
As we look at this foursome, we discover warring brothers in the womb. We see parental favoritism among the two womb rockers, and parental favoritism is always a no-no, just ask Jacob about Joseph and his 11 brothers (Genesis 37).
In fact, throughout the book of Genesis, we have the mega theme of deception—a human longing and subsequent human-based plan for more than what we have been given. Yet in and through these twists and sour turning points, God’s plan remains intact to and through Jesus. In this case, Jacob, the third patriarch in the line to start a nation from Abraham, actualizes.
I like the question I was asked a few years ago because the lesson for us is clear: despite all of our human sin, God still achieves God’s goal. How? Consider what is true. We have all wronged and have been wronged. We trespass and have trespassed against. We sin. Amazingly, however, God still uses us, despite our sin, to meet His goal of having us desire to shed our sin by knowing and following His Son, our Savior.
PRAYER: Lord, for who and how You are among us, it is not too much to shout out yet another “Thank you!” Is it? Amen.