August 3
One thing can be discerned rather readily by studying the lives of the fathers of the faith—they were not perfect. Mistakes, foibles, sin—dogged their heels. Yet they were men the Lord counted worthy to found His nation, His chosen people as well as establish the lineage through whom would come Christ our Savior.
We can only stand in awe and wonder at the goodness and mercy of God as it is evidenced in the lives of the patriarchs. We can only stand in humble wonder at the reality that He extends the same mercy and grace to us in even greater magnitude through Jesus’ death on the cross.
In Genesis 27:37, Isaac says something to Esau, the firstborn of his twin sons, “I have made him a master over you. What then can I do for you, my son?” Isaac was deceived into giving the birthright of the firstborn to Jacob the second born and he was seeking to make amends to Esau for his mistake. Isaac could not withdraw the blessing he had pronounced over Jacob and he knew that Jacob’s duplicity would not negate the blessing in the eyes of God.
We, like Isaac, falter and fail in our endeavors to do the ‘right thing,’ to assure that the rules are kept and expectations met; but, like Isaac, we must trust in the all pervasive wisdom and foreknowledge of God when He overrides our good intentions. Rather than a ‘mistake,’ the bestowal of the birthright upon Jacob assured the truth of the ages would be maintained undefiled, for Jacob esteemed the inheritance more than did his brother who sold it for a bowl of soup.
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