What I love so much about God's word is that you can read a story you grew up with and it comes to life in a whole new way. For example, the story of Jacob and Esau fighting over the bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup.
Their dad is getting old and wants to give Esau his blessing. Jacob overhears, probably while watching The View or HGTV with his mom and the two start scheming to steal the blessing. He then goes into Esau's closet and steals his hairy Armani clothes and tries to pass as his brother so he can get the firstborn's blessing.
He dresses up like his brother and steals the blessing right from under his nose hairs (the Bible says he was hairy). Then he flees for his life and stumbles into what appears to be West Virginia because he ends up working 14 years just to marry his cousins, Leah and Rachel.
There are so many people to blame in this story. You could blame Jacob for lying and deceiving his dad. But it was his own mom's idea! So you could blame her for going against her own husband. But then you could blame him for not even knowing the difference in his own son's voices. It's almost like an episode of Desperate Housewives of the Old Testament.
Doesn't matter. The point is this: Jacob had to dress up and cover up his own identity to fool his father into giving him a blessing because he didn't even come close to growing peach fuzz compared to Esau and his snuggy-like body hair.
What appeared to be his reward turned out to be his curse. He took the easy way out by conning his own brother and father but got conned in return by his uncle. It's reality-O.T.V. at it's best.
This really is a funny story and you're almost amazed at the fact that it happened. But what isn't funny is this story re-occurs in our lives everyday.
We dress up and cover up our sins and lifestyles, thinking we can fool our heavenly father into thinking we are the children He really loves and wants. We'll put on a smile and bring our Bibles to church with us. We'll serve in ministry and tithe 10%. But we'll also delete our internet browsing history or spend too much time off the clock while staying on the clock.
We dress up and fake it because we're afraid of approaching the Father the way He desperately wants us to: humbled, open, honest, vulnerable and as sinful selves.
Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. You can't hide from God. And that isn't news that Fox News or CNN broke.
What is really interesting and really amazing and really impossible to grasp is this: Whether it is Jacob's lying, deceiving or conning or our very own, God still makes promises and reaffirms His love for us.
What does that say about His character and the relationship He seeks with us?
-NW
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