The Blessing
Day 3, Week 1 of Choosing God Instead of the World, a love God Greatly Bible Study
Scripture Reading: Genesis 26:34-28:9; Romans 9:6-1; Genesis 28:3-4 (SOAP)
May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4 May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.” Genesis 28:3-4 NLT
Observation:
Jacob had tricked Esau, his brother, out of his birthright and deceived his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau, as the firstborn. which eventually led to the Covenant blessing that we find in chapter 28 and verse 4. In my human understanding I am blown away by Isaac’s prayer of blessing on his son even after all Jacob had done. In spite of the trickery, manipulation, and deception Isaac blessed Jacob with all of “the wealth and political power” that was his to give1 and ultimately he prayed for God to bless Jacob with the descendants and the land that had been promised to Abraham.1
Jacob will leave Isaac’s household with both Isaac’s blessing for wealth and political power and the covenant blessing of God with Abraham for multitudes of offspring and possession of the land.
1 Bibleref.com commentary on Genesis 28:4
In this ‘covenant blessing, Isaac acknowledges that God is in control. He recognizes God’s promises that Abraham’s descendants would be vast and acknowledges Jacob will be the one to possess the land promised to God’s people.
He prayed words that spoke of trusting God to be in control. Regardless of the way things appeared, Isaac trusted God to keep His promise. He kept his eyes on God and did not lose sight of the covenant He had made with Abraham.
Application: How Then Should We Live?
Trust God It’s not always easy, some might say it’s one of the most difficult parts of the Christian life – but it is none-the-less the example Scripture gives us – trust God, don’t lose sight of His promises. Trust Him even when things appear to have worked out wrong, trust Him when you’ve been wronged, and trust Him when you can’t see any hope that His promises will come true. In other words, when life and people disappoint us – we should still trust God.
I believe the key to trusting God is to keep our eyes on Him. The prophet Isaiah said, God would keep in perfect peace those who trust in Him, those who fix their thoughts on Him. In the New Testament, after giving instructions to not worry about anything but to pray about everything, Paul encouraged the believers to fix their thoughts on God – to think – not about things that had them worried or upset, but rather to think about things that are true and honorable, and right and pure, lovely and admirable, or excellent and worthy of praise. When these are the thoughts we dwell on, regardless of our circumstances, not only will we know God’s peace but our prayers will undoubtedly be less frantic and more like the Covenant blessing that Isaac was able to pray over his son. A prayer of hope and faith in His God and in the promise He had made of future blessing – even though his son’s actions had changed the expected path of God’s promise to Abraham.
Prayer: Response to God’s Word
Father, thank You for the reminder of Your complete control but even more how we are to respond in the midst of what doesn’t go the way we thought it was supposed to. Help me to keep my eyes on You and Your promises – and to pray accordingly. – Yes and amen!
Your Turn:
- What’s your take away from today’s reading?
- Do you believe God will provide for you without your help?
- In what ways do you depend on your own strengths or cleverness instead of depending on God?
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