Genesis 26:34-28:9 | Bless Me Father

You have a Bible? Go and grab it and turn to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis. We're going to be looking at a larger section in Genesis this morning. Last week, we took a slight detour to think about Resurrection Sunday. Now, we are back in Genesis chapter 26. We're going to be reading from the very end of this chapter all the way to the very beginning of chapter 28. Genesis chapter 26, we'll be looking at verse 34, all the way to chapter 28, verse 9. If you don't have a Bible, you can go ahead and use the pew Bible in front of you. If you don't own a Bible, we would love for you to just be able to keep that Bible. Feel free to consider that a gift from us to you. We would love for you to be able to have a copy of God's Word that you can read for yourself. Now, if you already own a Bible, please don't take it; that's for someone else. But if you don't have a copy of God's Word, we would love for you to have that. We'll be looking at chapter 26, verse 34 to chapter 28, verse 9, which says this:

When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hethite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”And he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me. Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, ‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.” Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin. Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.” His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.” So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”He replied, “Because the Lord your God made it happen for me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?” So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”And he replied, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it closer to me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it closer to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.” So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give to you— from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land— an abundance of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow in homage to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in homage to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting. He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.” But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.” Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. “Who was it then,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!” When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?” But Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?” Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly. His father Isaac answered him,Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck. Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides— until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?” So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries someone from around here, like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?” So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl. Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl.” And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram. Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

— Genesis 26:34-28:9 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, we pray, even as we look at this story, that you would help us to heed your Word and its warnings and its examples. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Dysfunctional Family of Faith

If you go online, you can look at different internet forums, and there's one in particular that I'll change the wording of a little bit, called, "Am I the Jerk?" where people will post different stories about their own situations and how they reacted, and they would ask the people on the internet, "What do you think? Am I the jerk?" And they would respond with one of three responses: "Either you are the jerk," "You're not the jerk," or, this is my favorite, "Everyone sucks here."

I mean, you read a story like this, and this story is a mess. Have you ever watched a TV drama where you can't root for a single person, or a reality TV show where you witness and you don't really want to root for anyone? I mean, this is just a completely embarrassing, dysfunctional mess. Why would Moses go out of his way to tell the Israelites about this embarrassing blip in their family history?

I think those negative, judgmental feelings that you may have towards all the characters in this story are exactly the point, so that you remember that no one is exempt from failure. And that in light of every single person's failure, you would become sober-minded about the sin that can so easily ensnare you. What we see in this story is a cascading waterfall of failures where every person fails to meet the baseline of faithfulness to their God. And yet, underneath the corruption, God is still continuing to accomplish his purposes.

So, we've looked at a couple other stories in Genesis where you see figures that kind of stand up as examples for us to follow. You may think of examples like Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac at the mountain. Who should you be like in this story? The answer is no one, because everyone sucks here. Four points.

Don't Be Like Isaac: Blinded by Desire

Point number one: Don't be like Isaac. Read again with me from chapter 26.

When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hethite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. — Genesis 26:34-35 (CSB)

Three weeks ago, we saw Esau willingly give up his birthright in exchange for some stew. And now we see that Esau didn't just sell away his destiny in a single moment, but he continued to live his life as though he was someone who did not follow God. In fact, his birthright doesn't seem to descend from these women or from the seed of the woman at all, but rather the seed of the serpent.

We've been walking through Genesis now for several months. Do you notice the number of women that Esau marries here in verses 34 to 35? He marries two. Now, sometimes people will try to point to examples in the Old Testament of figures marrying multiple women like this as justification for polyamory or having multiple spouses. But I don't think that's what Moses is doing here at all. In fact, I think he's actually pointing out the multiplicity of wives here in genuine distaste. He almost seems disgusted by it.

He says here that "the wives made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca." Not only that, the number of wives that Esau has here is a callback. There is one other figure in Genesis up until this point who also takes on two wives. Do you know who it is? Lamech. All the way back in Genesis chapter 4, who boasted about how he's greater than his ancestor Cain, and Esau, by taking on two wives here, is solidifying himself in the line of Lamech, in this seed of the serpent.

And Esau doesn't seem to really care about any of this. And if I had to guess, it's probably because these women were really sweet to him. He loved these women. In fact, their names could almost be like hints about what exactly drew Esau over to them. Judith, or "Judy," means praise. And Basemath is not a punk rock band; I'm kind of pronouncing it wrongly on purpose. Her name means fragrance, right? These women are almost like buffing Esau's ego and delighting his senses of smell, enough so that it doesn't even matter to him whether he's disobeying the Lord. He's just going with whatever his heart wants. It's almost like he doesn't even care that they cause grief to his parents.

You know, that's what sin does. Whether it's an inappropriate relationship or anything else that your heart may desire, they try to overwhelm your senses with their words and smells. They'll try to trick you into thinking that what's happening in sin is right and that everyone else is crazy. But if your actions are pushing you away from those who love God and love you, it is worth taking the time to reflect on whether or not the bitterness your actions cause are actually a result of bitterness gripping your heart.

Esau doesn't seem to care. And to be fair, I think Esau is also acting just like his dad because Isaac doesn't seem to care either. See that in the beginning of chapter 27. Read with me.

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”And he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me. Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.” — Genesis 27:1-4 (CSB)

Isaac's old; he's so old he can't see. He tells Esau to go and get a meal so he could bless him right before his death. Right after this passage about Esau's sin, we see that Isaac isn't just blind to what his physical eyes can't see; he is literally turning a blind eye to his oldest son's deficiencies. He doesn't see. He doesn't see that Esau's a failure. He doesn't see what Rebecca hears from the Lord in the previous chapter.

And the reason why he doesn't see Esau for who he truly is is because he loves him. He loves his son. And I don't mean that he just loves Esau. It's that he loves what Esau can give him. Do you notice the way that he talks here in the first four verses? He loves Esau's food. He literally loves what Esau brings to the table. I mean, Genesis 25:27 says that Isaac loved Esau because he had taste for his wild game. And he's using Esau for the exact same thing here. He says, "Bring me the delicious meal that I love."

Have you ever seen parents talk like that? They love their kids' accomplishments, they love what their kids do, what they produce? Isaac loves Esau's gifts so much that he ignores the sins of the giver. Esau may be following the seed of the serpent, but his dad isn't that different because it is dangerous to be deceived by your delights.

It's no wonder that one of the words that the Bible uses to describe sin is "sensuality." We're so drawn to what we think is good that we turn a blind eye to the corruption that comes with it. You fall in love with the idea of providing for your family, and Satan takes that and corrupts it into greed. You love a delicious meal, and sin corrupts it into gluttony. You love the idea of love, but it corrupts into sexual immorality or aberrations of marriage like polygamy or gay marriage. Don't be like Isaac, blind to the dangers of disobedience. But he's not the only one.

Don't Be Like Rebekah: Controlling God's Plan

Point two: Don't be like Rebecca. Look at verse 5.

Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, ‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.” — Genesis 27:5-10 (CSB)

You know, while Isaac's having this conversation with Esau, Rebecca is snooping in on this conversation. And she sees this as an opportunity to ensure that her favorite son Jacob is able to receive the blessing. So, she devises a plan. She tells Jacob, "You go grab two goats. I'll make Isaac's favorite meal and then we'll fix him something to eat."

And Jacob is concerned, but he's not concerned about deceiving. He's concerned about getting caught in his deception. He asks his mom, "What happens if he touches me? He'll find out that I'm a deceiver." But you know who cares even less about the fact that Jacob would be lying to his dad? Rebecca. In fact, she tells her son twice, "Listen to me," or "Obey me." She takes her words and is using them to push Jacob into fulfilling her desires.

In fact, the entire reason why she's pushing for this deception in the first place is so that she gets what she wants. Now, I'm not saying that what Rebecca wanted was necessarily wrong. We know that a literal angel showed up and told her that Esau would be serving Jacob. Yet, rather than using that promise as reasons for her to trust the Lord, her good desires have been corrupted by her evil decisions. She may have a good ambition or genuine love for her son, but she is willing to lie, cheat, and deceive in order to stack the deck in her favor, to control, to get Jacob and, by extension, to get Isaac to obey her command.

And by doing so, Rebecca falls into the curse of sin. "Your desire will be for your husband," to dominate, to manipulate, to control him. It's a dangerous thing to let your good desires justify your evil decisions, to use your good reasons to justify evil actions, because God doesn't just care about what you do, he cares about how you do them. If you sin in order to justify something that you think may be good, it is still sin.

And yet Rebecca doesn't seem to care about the consequences of her sin at all. Not only is she intent on controlling this situation, she seems to think that she'll be able to get away with it. I mean, did you notice what Rebecca says to Jacob's concern about getting caught and cursed in verse 13?

His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.” — Genesis 27:13 (CSB)

She minimizes the potential consequences of her evil actions in her effort to exert her control. Ever do that—get so caught up in the moment, trying to make sure that you win, that you don't think about what God may do? Cursed indeed. Because of her corrupted love for her son, after the events of this section are over, Rebecca will never see her beloved son again. All because she wanted to control the situation, she ended up accepting consequences that, I guarantee you, she never saw coming.

You know, our control is limited, and our desires are often like the monkey's paw. You can get your wish fulfilled, but there are always consequences that you don't see coming. Because you and I are not God. Our ways are not the best way. Often times, they're not even a good way, because only God's way results in our greatest good. Don't be like Rebecca, blind to the consequences of God's curse. But she's not the only one.

Don't Be Like Jacob: The Master of Deception

Point number three: Don't be like Jacob. Look at verse 18.

When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”He replied, “Because the Lord your God made it happen for me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?” So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”And he replied, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it closer to me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it closer to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.” So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. — Genesis 27:18-27 (CSB)

Jacob cloaks himself in deception, brings food to his dad, and Isaac has his suspicions, but he's unable to tell that's not Esau. And the reason why he can't tell whether it's Esau is because while he's listening to Jacob's voice, he doubts himself on the basis of his touch, his smell, and his taste. He can't see. He's hearing something that doesn't line up, but the other three senses are telling him something else. The very same thing that makes him deceived and desiring and preferring his older son Esau are the very same things that betray him in this moment.

So, if you want to be able to discern the truth, don't get distracted by what you can touch, smell, and taste. Pay attention to the voice. Even Satan comes as "an angel of light." Paul in Galatians 1 instructs us that we are to reject or to curse anyone who comes and preaches a gospel contrary to what you have heard preached, that there will be "wolves who come in sheep's clothing," where you will touch, you can smell, you may even taste, and you will get confused because they talk like wolves.

It's no wonder that Isaac is blind because he's not just blind with his eyes. He's blind with his ears. And Jacob here is a master with his words. I mean, he is a master of deception. For one, he's so blatant about his lying. He just says it with a straight face. One recent profile of a prominent CEO described him as, quote, "having a sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences that may come from deceiving someone." Can you imagine that—someone who's just willing to straight up lie in your face without a single ounce of guilt, where you genuinely cannot tell if he's telling the truth or lying, but you do know for certain that he's doing it to get whatever he wants? That's the attitude that Jacob has with this kind of deception. He just straight up says, "I'm Esau." Is that blunt?

Not only that, he's so flippant with the Lord. I mean, Isaac asked, "How'd you get the meat so fast?" And Jacob attributes the reason why he has the soup to God. He says, "God made this happen." Have you ever heard people do that? They blame the Lord for their own sinful decisions? And we know that even if God caused the ATM to malfunction in front of you and just start spitting out hundred dollar bills, that doesn't make it right for you to rob a bank. Even if the car happens to be unlocked, that's not providence granting you an ability to achieve your own sinful desires.

Jacob can't blame God for opening up the opportunity for him to sin and lie. Your circumstances do not permit you to go into corrupting actions. James 1:13-14 says that:

No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. — James 1:13-14 (CSB)

That's exactly what Jacob is doing here. Beware of using God to suit your own purposes of deceiving others. Jacob may be the seed of the promise, the seed of the woman, but he is acting like a snake.

But Isaac can't tell, so he blesses Jacob in verse 28.

May God give to you— from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land— an abundance of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow in homage to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in homage to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed. — Genesis 27:28-29 (CSB)

Isaac blesses Jacob with this blessing from Abraham that he had received—blessings from the land and from the peoples. And the irony is that Jacob is receiving this kind of blessing while forsaking God's ways. It's fine that you see Jacob imitate his father, in the same way that Esau imitated his father or his mother, and in the same way that Esau imitated his father. They both struggle with the same thing. Rebecca struggles with control and not trusting God's plans. And that's the same impulse that leads Jacob to deceive with his words.

I wonder if you're tempted to do the same thing. Maybe you don't lie as blatantly as Jacob did. But maybe you're willing to stretch out the truth a little bit every time you retell a story. Maybe you think to yourself that it's just convenient to leave this part of the truth out. Maybe you're even willing to just flat out lie if it means that you don't have to deal with the consequences of today. Don't be like Jacob, blind to the darkness of deception. But he's not the only one.

Don't Be Like Esau: Blinded by Bitterness

Point four: Don't be like Esau. Esau returns from his hunting trip to his dad. Isaac realizes that he's been tricked, and he begins to shake, and Esau cries out in agony. And notice what he says about his brother in verse 36.

So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?” — Genesis 27:36 (CSB)

Jacob's name means "heel grabber." And he's done what heel grabbers do. He just yanked Esau down from the ladder. Not only that, he's behaving like the serpent does in Genesis chapter 3. "You will strike his heel, he will crush your head." He is begging Isaac for a blessing. And Isaac tells him, "Jacob took it away from you." He begs again. And so Isaac finally gives him a blessing in verse 39. Look at the blessing that Isaac gives his son.

Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck. — Genesis 27:39-40 (CSB)

He'll be driven away, just like all of Abraham's other sons. He will serve his brother. That sounds like a curse, not a blessing. I mean, that is a 180-degree turn from what Esau expected when he left to go hunt. Honestly, in this story up until this point, it sounds like Esau is just an innocent victim. He's leaving to go hunt, he comes back, suddenly his entire world falls apart.

But lest you feel sorry for him, Esau is no saint either. And you can see that in verse 41. Esau held a grudge in his heart. I mean, this would be the grudge of all grudges, you know? To have your internal destiny altered by your own brother. You can see how this kind of betrayal sticks to the heart, grips your own soul. To have your own future ripped away by someone so close to you. I mean, can you imagine having to live every day in the same house on the same property with a brother who stabbed you in the back like this?

You may have never experienced a betrayal like that in your life. But most likely, if you live long enough, you will. You absolutely will, whether it's the sinfulness of others or the selfishness of your own heart, you will find reasons to be embittered towards others. And in those moments, what will you do? For Esau, he ruminates. He can't let it go. The thoughts are circulating in his mind. He can't bring himself to love his own brother. Instead, the bitterness boils over into a determination to murder him.

I don't think anyone here murdered someone out of pettiness. I'm sure all of us know that kind of feeling, right? That angst? That kind rises up in the gut, that guttural, righteous fury of a heart that's been wounded unjustly? But Esau, despite being genuinely wronged here, is also genuinely wrong himself. Do you notice the way that he talked about his brother in verse 36? He says that he has cheated me how many times? Twice. First with the birthright, second with the blessing.

But is that what really happened? Did Esau really have his birthright stolen from him? If you remember, no. He walked into the house, smelled some bean stew, and then gave it up himself. And yet, when Esau is so betrayed by his brother, he is looking into his past with new lenses. He is looking for a reason to justify his angst. He retells this story with enough vigor that his own lies become true to him.

See, betrayal will push you to put devil's horns on your enemies and halos around your head, to treat the complexities of life in absolutes. I'm not saying that there can't be more fault on one side than the other, but if your temptation is to review all aspects of your life in black and white terms, that probably means that you're just as blind as Isaac is—blind to your own inadequacies, your own sin.

Think about Esau going through this genuine betrayal. And this bitterness does something worse for him. It poisons his heart to the point of death, where he convinces himself to become the adjudicator of his own justice. I mean, Esau is trying to be Batman here, his own little vigilante. We know that that isn't right. We believe in a God who will enact perfect justice. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, in the face of all sorts of false teachers speaking ill about him:

So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God. — 1 Corinthians 4:5 (CSB)

Imagine that. God comes and exposes you. Imagine you and your betrayer, the person that you can't help but feel poisonous emotions about. If you're saved, both of you come before the Lord's throne in judgment. And then God exposes your heart and their heart perfectly. And you will be vindicated where you need to be vindicated, and you will be judged where you need to be judged. And God will adjudicate so perfectly, so thoroughly, that after his judgment, both of you can stand shoulder to shoulder and praise the God that both of you serve with no reservation or baggage left.

That's what Paul says will happen: that there will be a day with no bitterness left in your heart. Do you believe that that's possible? Do you believe that that will happen? The only way that you can believe something like that is if you've been treated better than you deserve. It's exactly why Jesus in Matthew 18 tells his parable about the debtor who owed many debts, the guy who owed like a gazillion dollars to the king. And the king forgives his debts, and he walks down the road and he sees a man who owes him ten thousand dollars, grabs him by the collar, throws him in prison. The king finds out about it and then throws him in prison. Because the one who forgives much has been forgiven much. How much more for the Christian?

The thing that's going to cool your bitterness or your anger or your angst isn't because you receive justice in this life. The thing that's going to give you peace is remembering that there is a God who gave you mercy. Because Christ died for your sins, rose from the dead, victorious over sin and death. And he exerts all of that power and might by forgiving us the things that we could never repay. Is there a poisonous gripping your heart? Could you look at the cross and see the blood that Christ poured out for you and not let something like that go?

If you're not a Christian, you're here this morning. Wouldn't you want something like this? I mean, a power that enables you to finally let go of that poison that you've been hanging on to for years. Not only one that helps you let go of ways that other people have wronged you, but a power that actually frees you from your own shame and your guilt. One that's able to see you accurately for who you really are and know that God is gracious to you still. Christians love because Christ first loved us. Don't be like Esau, blinded by bitterness.

God's Faithful Providence

I mean, Isaac was blind, Rebecca was controlling, Jacob was deceptive, Esau was bitter. Everybody sucks here. Actually, I take that back. There's only one person in this story who doesn't suck. And it's the Lord. Behind this mess is a providential, faithful hand of God orchestrating everything according to his purposes.

The story begins with a problem about whether or not Jacob will be able to find a wife. That's the premise of verses 34 to 35. And in the midst of this chaotic, petty family drama, God orchestrates all things to lead Abraham's seed to a spouse so that he can continue to bear children to lead to the one who is ultimately not like us. Jesus sees every thought and intention of our hearts. He's the only one who controls everything according to his perfect goodwill. He is the Word, the Truth, and rather than being embittered, he looks at all the ways that you wronged him, and he responds in grace, mercy, and love. Don't just look at this mess. Let the mess point you to Christ. And when you've received grace and mercy from him, then go and follow him.

Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would help us to be sober-minded in thinking about all the pitfalls of sin. And in turn, I pray Lord that that bitter reality will point us to the sweetness of trusting in you. Pray that you would grant us grace to be able to do that in Jesus' name. Amen.