Readings for today: Genesis 27-29
Our readings today highlight some very important truths. God meets us where we are but refuses to let us remain there. God accepts us as we are but doesn’t affirm all we do. God loves us unconditionally and works through His relationship with us to grow us spiritually.
The family of Abraham’s a mess. Rebekah takes advantage of her blind and disabled husband to promote the cause of her favorite son. Esau continues to despise the responsibilities that come from being the firstborn of the household. Selling his birthright. Marrying outside the family. Jacob’s a momma’s boy who uses deceit to get ahead. Not only does he steal the blessing his brother rightfully deserved, he also deceives Laban in order to gain wealth and privilege and status. Granted, Laban returns the favor but it doesn’t make it righteous. Jacob even tries to manipulate God. When God appears to Jacob to renew the covenant promise He made to Abraham and Isaac, Jacob tries to make a deal. "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." (Genesis 28:20-22) He tries to make the unconditional covenant of God conditional. It’s stunning in it’s boldness and ignorance.
And yet, how many times do we try and do the same? You and I are no different than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are no different than Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. We are all broken people seeking to become whole. We are foolish people seeking to become wise. We are sinful people seeking become righteous. We look for love in all the wrong places. We place our hope in all the wrong things. We ground our identities in temporary realities that fade so quickly. As Jesus put so well, “We’re building on sand.” And when the storms of life blow. When the ground shakes beneath our feet. When the trials and tribulations come - as they always do - everything we’ve built for ourselves comes crashing down around us.
God is faithful. Faithful to His promise. Faithful to His covenant. How can He stand the deceit of Jacob? The favoritism of Isaac and Rebekah? The foolishness of Esau? Why does God work with such sinful people to accomplish His purposes? Surely these men and women are no more or less sinful than the people around them? What makes them so special in God’s sight? Simply this…God chose them. God elected to save them and not the others. God determined to use them for His purposes in the world. And the same remains true for us today. Why does God not step in and save every single human being on the planet? Why does God not step in and eradicate evil once and for all? Why does God not step in and set our world to rights? What is God waiting for? Perhaps even better, why did God choose me? Why did God save me? What purposes does God want to use me for in this world?
Ultimately, I have no idea why God chooses some and not others. Why He puts up with some and judges others. I only know God has made us a promise. He has made a covenant with His people. He will never break it. Never abandon it. Never let it fail. He has staked His very existence on it. The covenant of God is eternal. Unchangeable. Fixed in the timeline of heaven. It rests on His immutable character. It stands on His unfailing love. It is driven by His amazing grace. To be sure, I am a mess but thanks be to God that He is making something beautiful out of my life.
Photo cred: Jackson Pollock