You thought your family was dysfunctional? What a hot mess in the family of Isaac and Jacob!
Let’s recap some highlights of this family mess.
- Esau gave up his birthright to Isaac over some food! The flesh is weak! How many of us have appetites as gods?
- Jacob, with the help of his mother, deceived his father Isaac by impersonating Esau to get the blessing from Isaac. How could a wife of a man of God do such a thing and involve their children in the process?
- Jacob had to leave the family because his brother wanted to kill him as soon as their father passes away.
- Jacob’s uncle, Laban, deceived him into marrying Leah instead of Rachel after working seven years in agreement. Then to marry Rachel, he had to work another seven years. In all, Jacob’s uncle cheated Jacob ten times in his wages.
- After Rachel couldn’t get give Jacob any children, she gave him her servant as a wife to have sex with to have children for her. Leah had already given him four sons at that time. Jacob had two wives and a surrogate mother/wife? Then when Leah saw what Rachel did, she gave Jacob her servant as a wife to bear more children. This sounds more like a Spanish soap opera. God surely wasn’t happy with the decisions these people were making!
- When Jacob and his dysfunctional family left Laban, Rachel stole her father’s jewels/gods. Maybe she was mad at Laban, but stealing your father’s stuff?
So we have here liars, cheaters, thieves, adulterers, and much more! Yet the strange matter in all of this is that God still blessed this family.
You may have grown up in a dysfunctional home. You may have done some really stupid stuff. Even when you sinned, you may have known what you were doing was wrong. And your picture of how God works may be that He only works through you when you have everything all together.
Yet we see here a God that works His purpose through whomever He chooses and doesn’t give up on people. Here we have a picture that even through the dumbest decisions we have made in life, God can still use our messes and turn them into messages.
#genesis