Bible In One Year-Day 15 (January 15, 2014)

In the previous chapters, we discussed about Abraham and Isaac. God introduced Himself to Abraham as God Almighty and to Isaac as the God of Abraham. Isaac never received any new thing from God but the same word He spoke with his father. The story of Jacob started from Gen25 and lingered till Gen49, i.e. 48% of Genesis was about Jacob. The experience of Abraham was that of plan and vision. The experience of Isaac was of a son totally obedient and dependent on the father. The life of Jacob was full of trials and troubles. The 1st aspect of his life was from Gen25-27. We saw the type of person he was; full of self, even though he had strength right from the womb, quite materialistic and covetous. Esau’s character was a mind of his own; absolutely walked in the flesh not knowing the relevance of spiritual endowment or grace (birthright). He grieved his parents through unholy marriage, Gen26:34-35. This was one of the things that made Rebekah to scheme against him by arranging with Jacob to receive the blessing that was due to Esau. The step Esau took with his birthright and in marriage shut him out of divine plan and enhances the prophecy which was given while he was in the womb to come to pass;

Genesis 26:34-35 “And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.”

Isaac’s pronouncement upon Jacob was as a result of the prophecy given to Rebekah whilst pregnant;

Genesis 25:23 “And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”

Many at one time or the other argued that God hated Esau. It is not like that, the truth is that God is a God of purpose. PURPOSE chose Jacob. When God reveals purpose to you, He will breed you for that purpose through trials and troubles. His purpose was the salvation of man and He had chosen Abraham to be His person for the actualization. Abraham was submissive, also Isaac was reliable. But Jacob was another character entirely. His character was an issue, if the vision was to be realized. God, having His own way of doing things, raised a rage through Esau to drive Jacob out of his father’s house so that He (God) could deal with his character to the point of absolute usefulness. That journey of brokenness started in Gen28. His 1st sleep on this journey was an encounter with God’s plan which was not clear to him. The plan of God was clearly relayed to him but he did not understand it, Gen28:13-15; Jacob, rather, was talking about food and clothing in v20-22. God’s declaration to him was not conditional because God was already committed to a covenant with Abraham. That was why He introduced Himself to Jacob as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and what God said to Abraham, was repeated to Isaac and now to Jacob. This simply means that God’s plan remains; instead of changing it, He will change persons. Jacob never understood the plan but was concerned about himself. He needed to be dealt with to fit PURPOSE and PLAN. This is the process a lot of us go through. It took 20 years under God’s discipline for Jacob to be reliable and fit for PURPOSE and PLAN; he came back to this same spot where he first received the revelation of purpose. He was a cheat, but he met a master cheat, Laban. Beloved, when it comes to God’s plan, He knows how to deal with us to pattern us to suit His plan. In the school of God Almighty, there is no automatic promotion; you will go through each experience and course necessary for you to be suitable for His use. God deals with our character when preparing us for greater assignment. Many believers are going through that training now. Without Abraham, there wouldn’t have been an Isaac, without Isaac there wouldn’t have been a Jacob and without Jacob there wouldn’t have been the 12 tribes of Israel, Gen17:4. Any believer who wants to move in the power of the Holy Spirit must be prepared to undergo spiritual panel beating, re-shaping and re-modeling; this is for the purpose of adding value to your life. In essence, the root of trials and troubles of life is in PURPOSE. Once you give your life to Jesus, the next stage is to enroll in the school of spiritual discipline. Prayer: O God, enroll me in Your school to shake off activities that will devalue me, in the name of Jesus. Let’s move forward today by reading Gen31-33. Keep the fire burning and alive. Tell somebody about Jesus today!!!