Short Sided Decisions

God’s Sovereignty Over All

Genesis 25:19–26 (NIV)

This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

The sovereignty of God is the criteria for gain and success in the world. Even when things culturally deem matters as against the Lord, the sovereignty of God gives situations and individuals their designed worth and value. Rebekah had been chosen to be Isaac’s wife. Her barrenness would have been seen as a sign that she was not the right woman for Isaac, but the Lord had chosen Rebekah and led her to Isaac. Her childbearing was never designed to show God’s favor but instead to show God’s mercy, might and sovereignty.

The story of Abraham moves into the story of Jacob as the Lord continues to show sovereignty over human culture. Culture places prominence on the brith order, but the Lord chooses to whom His promises will be exalted.

Romans 9:6–13 (NIV)

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Unlike his father, Isaac is presented with the baronness of his wife and he seeks the Lord instead of trying to accomplish the promise of God on his own.

Here the motif begins of the child of worldly promise and the child of divine promise. The story of Jacob feels unsettling because we limit the things of God within our own cultural context. We herald some things and proclaim them as good while other things we herald as undesirable and herald them as evil. The hero of the story is not Esau or Jacob, but the Lord.

Settling for Less

Genesis 25:27–34 (NIV)

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Success is defined by the ability to produce with one’s own hand. Once again the promise of what is in the hand outweighs the hope of what is to come and less is settled for.

Jacob’s success is not rooted in his ability to produce but rather in the sovereignty of God.

Hebrews 12:14–17 (NIV)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.