Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year Blessings

We wish all of our readers a blessed new year!

One thing we need to pay more attention to is the blessing factor. This is so clear in the Bible.Many things in the Bible does not make sense in the natural- like God loving Jacob more than Esau.

A casual look and you will think Esau was a gentleman whereas Jacob was a scoundrel. How can God reject a gentleman and bless a scoundrel? This concern is behind many of the judgments we pass today. We forget that man looks at the outside and judges while God knows our hearts.

Esau never paid any respect or value to his spiritual heritage. He was never around for evening sacrifices. At that time he was out with his friends hunting. We all know the famous porridge story where he was willing to give up his double portion blessings for a cup of soup.  When he became an adult, the Bible tells us that he married  two (not one) Hittite women as wives, 'which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.' (Gen. 26:25).

I personally believe that was one reason Rebekah decided to make sure Jacob got the blessings from his father and thereby continued the lineage of the family till Messiah came.

When we look at the life of Jacob, we see a person who hung around his parents' tent, was there to witness the worship practices of his father, who always listened to his parents etc. He was a person who valued his heritage, wanted his father's blessings etc.  Isn't that the pattern God had placed in place to bring up children? Then is it any wonder that God rejected Esau and loved Jacob?

Something really caught my attention recently while researching the counter cultural roots of Christianity for a forthcoming book. It has tremendously influenced me and has forced me to rethink some of my positions. In Genesis 24, when Abraham was sending his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, we see this important turn in their conversation.

'And the servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" But Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there. The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants  I give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there."' (Gen. 24:5-8).

In other words, this aging father who desperately wanted to see his son married is telling his servant to make sure that Isaac is never taken back to things he left behind, even if it meant Isaac remained unmarried for the rest of his life! SEPARATION WAS SO IMPORTANT TO ABRAHAM. At that time, Abraham had all of three people worshiping this God who called him out- Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. The future of this new way of true worship depended on Isaac and the wife he chose. That is why Abraham was so adamant.

Jacob was willing to do the same when his turn came. When his mother asked him not to take a wife from surrounding areas and to go back to her people to find a wife, unlike Esau, he agreed. It was on that journey that Jacob had his first encounter with God at Bethel and the rest is history.

Never forget this incredible promise God gave to Jacob that night: " I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."(Gen. 28:15b). In other words, God took the responsibility for Jacob's success in life!

As you enter into this new year you need only one thing: God's blessings. Do not neglect the blessings factor. It will change everything. It will bring His favor on your life. You will be a success in life. You will be the head, not the tail.

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