Jacob to Israel – A Life Transformed – 1
The purpose of this series on Jacob is to encourage and challenge us to examine our lives in the light of God’s Grace and Mercy so that we can grow in our personal relationship with God Almighty.
I would like to quote a line here from a secular song which encapsulates this article. The quote comes from the song ‘Stuck in High School’ , a song by Lori McKenna – “Some good men maybe born they said, the better ones are made”.
Our story starts in Genesis 27
Isaac now has a wife and twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau is a hunter and only appears to be interested in himself, he does not appear to have much interest in the spiritual. Esau is tricked out of the birthright that is rightfully his as the elder son by Jacob, his younger brother who by all accounts is not much better. The Bible tells us that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob (Genesis 25:28). There appears to be a dispute going on as to who was going to inherit. Esau rightly assumed that all was his as the elder son but Jacob believed he had an equal share being only a few minutes younger. Jacob, probably encouraged by his mother, began to manipulate situations for his own ends. How many of us try to force God’s hand before it is God’s time?
Isaac is now an old man and preparing for his death. He calls Esau and asks him to go hunting for him, Rebekkah overhears and gets Jacob in on the act and together they conspire to deceive Isaac and so rob Esau of what was rightfully his. Jacob brings the food to Isaac and is asked ‘How have you done this so quickly?’ Genesis 27:20 to which Jacob replies ‘The Lord your God brought it to me’. Firstly what a lie, secondly, and more importantly Jacob used the words ‘your God’, and not ‘my God’. All of us have to know God personally, not by proxy. Jacob was living on his father’s experience of God. We will never be any use to God unless He is our God.
Jacob’s lie and Rebekah’s deceit caused no end of problems, so much so that Jacob had to run away, but God is bigger and greater than all that we do or say and He makes Himself known to the willing heart in His way and His time. Will we stop and listen or do we continue to run? As we follow Jacob we will find God is working to change this deceitful man into a prince, into something that He can use for Himself. Jacob to Israel A Life Transformed is a story that all of us can and should relate to as we aspire to find God and find Him to be true. It will throw up challenges but if we heed them and go through with them they will make us stronger and bring us closer to God.
Let us move into Genesis 28. The story continues with Isaac blessing Jacob and sending him away.
The blessing that Isaac gave Jacob was one of encouragement. Isaac still believed in the promise given to his father Abraham, which was ‘in him all nations of the earth will be blessed‘. God wants people who are willing to pursue the quest and believe the promise of salvation and recognise that it is God who causes us ‘to be fruitful and multiply’. There is nothing that we can do to merit God’s favour, yet God loves and cares for us by His mercy. Here in this story we find Isaac blessing Jacob even though he has deceived him and robbed his elder brother of his birthright. There is something here which makes us think about the mercy of God, a father who continues to love and care for our well being despite our failings. The heart of God is that ‘we be fruitful and inherit the land in which we are a stranger’ Genesis 28:3-4. God wants us to possess all that He has promised through His Spirit, not just what we think we are able to possess by our own efforts but all that God has for us in His completeness.
