Isaac’s spiritual, as well as his physical sight, became dim in his old age, for we will always find that if there is any unjudged sin in our lives when we are young, it will become more apparent as we grow older. Isaac had loved venison, and loved Esau because of his venison, for many long years but now this fleshly desire almost caused him to make a great mistake. In fact, he would have missed the mind of God entirely if God had not come in and prevented it. The way in which God came in was surely very humbling to Isaac, but it reminds us once again of the faithfulness and grace of God in spite of all our failures.
Grace Abounds
Isaac asked Esau to make him savoury meat, and said that he would then bless him before he died. He seemed to forget how God had ordained that the blessing was to rest on Jacob his younger son and not on Esau (see Genesis 25:2323And 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. (Genesis 25:23)). Jacob as usual planned and schemed, and this time his mother was with him in it. God would have seen to it that Jacob received the promised blessing in His own time, and it was not necessary for Jacob to deceive his poor old father to get it. There was nothing of faith in such an act, and we need hardly say that both Rebekah and Jacob had to reap bitterly for it. God overruled their plan, however, even though He did not, and could not, approve of it. In fact, this is the whole message of the Bible from cover to cover. It is where sin abounded that grace did much more abound (Romans 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)). Man’s record has always been one of sin — yes, sin abounding, while God’s record has always been one of grace over-abounding all mankind’s sin. Surely no one but God could write such a book as the Bible, telling of His own divine love rising to its highest peak at the cross of Calvary, even when the heart of man came out at its worst. Yes, when man did his worst, then God did His best!
Blessing in the Path of Obedience
Jacob should not have told a lie even though his mother told him to do it. In this instance, he should have obeyed God first, for His Word says, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:2222Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight. (Proverbs 12:22)). She told him to get a kid of the goats, and she would make the savoury meat which his father wanted. Then she put skins on Jacob’s hands and neck so that he would feel like his hairy brother Esau, and clothing him in Esau’s hunting suit, she sent him in to his father to get the blessing. How one lie leads to another and one deception to another! How much better to walk in “the paths of uprightness” and leave all the results with God, but Jacob told one lie after another and, strangely enough, he seemed to get what he wanted. But he only seemed to, for he reaped the results of this all his life. He was deceived by his uncle Laban many times — not just once — and then when he was old, his own sons deceived and lied to him. True, he got the blessing, but he would have got it without all this sorrow if he had waited God’s time.
These things may well be a lesson to us, for we are much like Jacob at times. We have plans of our own, and although we may not go as far as he did in deception, we sometimes try to get the blessing in a path of disobedience. Remember, dear young reader, that the path of obedience is the path of happiness. God often tests His children’s faith, but He will always prove Himself worthy of all our trust.
Further Meditation
1. What did Jacob’s mother tell him to do for him to get the blessing from his father?
2. How did the types of lies that started in the life of Abraham grow in the life of Isaac and become even more elaborate in the life of Jacob?
3. In Twig the Collie by C. Massey, one of the two main characters digs himself a deeper and deeper hole with his lies. They all begin to unravel toward the end of the story and present a clear warning against lying lips that is healthy to hear. Besides that, there are many other important lessons in the book that make it well worthwhile.