hidi

I have a plaque that says "A coincidence is God's say of remaining anonymous". I am sure that the first time the sheep turned out a certain pattern Jacob may have thought he was lucky, but as time goes by and it happens over and over again you have to know that you do not possess the power to make that happen. The more you know God the more you recognize his work. There is no luck or coincidence just God's will. We are always at risk when things are going well, and our income and assets grow because we as human beings begin to blow our own horn, and enjoy our accomplishments. We must always remain thankful to God for all our blessings: job,income,home,vehicles,family,friends, and our health among many blessings he gives us. Material things are nice, but they can disappear in a minute, because in our christian walk they are not as important as our relationship with God.

Jacob tricked Isaac and Esau. He had gotten away with the deception. Now he was being deceived and he had to pay the consequences of the deception of his father in law. I'm sure that Jacob could see the similarities and realized that it isn't very fun to be deceived. Deception is hurtful and can cause hardships for the person being deceived for a long time. God was dealing with one of Jacob's flaws. God has a tendency to shine a light on our flaws to make us aware of them, and then help us change. Thank goodness he is such a gracious God and shines a light on the one he wants us to work on instead of shining a light on all of them, we would be so overwhelmed.

The setting up the stone was a way of reverence to God, and also a reminder of the spot the vow was made in. Anointing the stone was consecrating what he felt was the house of God, he also makes the vow between himself and God so it seems fitting that he would anoint and consecrate that spot. Jacob promises God that if God will watch over him and give him food,clothes and safety that the stone will be God's house and God will be his God forever. Jacob also states that he will tithe a tenth of everything God has given him.

I can see a lot of Rebekah and Jacobs flaws in myself. I have been impatient and jumped ahead of God and paid the consequences for my actions. Deceiving myself into believing my choices are right for me without consulting God first, or not waiting for his answers. Like Esau I have had times when I have not properly valued blessings that have been given to me, not because of my actions but because God has blessed me because he wanted too. I have learned a great deal by my mistakes in the past. I try to evaluate and learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I am stubborn and God has to speak to me a little louder, but I do give in to his will even if I do not understand where he is having me go. When adversity comes into my life I have learned to trust God he loves me and he knows the future. What seems like a catastrophe today may show itself to be a blessing tomorrow. These lessons I have learned the hard way. Like I said I can be stubborn. God has always been there for me. Sometimes he is close and sometimes I am distant due to my own negligence but he is there for me always.

Jealousy happens when a parent favors one child over the other. I didn't really live with that growing up. My sister and I were seven years apart so we each had our own times with our parents. Both of my parents were only children, so some of the rules were hard, but as a whole I didn't feel jealousy with my sister. Part of loving your children equally is recognizing that they are different people. Each one of my boys and good qualities and weaknesses that were different. You love them both equally, but because each child is different you as a parent love them differently. I didn't compare my sons to each other, because they are entirely different people with different interests, goals and personalities. I think sometimes parents expect each child to follow in the footsteps of their other siblings or even their parents not recognizing that children are individuals. Even when you are careful I think children naturally think the other child is favored. It may be our basic human nature to always think someone is getting more than we are. i remember having to put exactly the same amount in each boys glass so that we could be sure they had equal amounts.

I believe that since the blessings were actually from God and not Isaac that the blessings were given correctly. You can't deceive God you can only deceive people and yourself. Isaac is just the messenger for God's words. If Isaac is spiritual and believes in God knowing all things and knowing that the words were God's and not his own, he would not change anything for he would believe that the correct blessing went to the correct son.

I do not feel that Rebekah has an excuse. God may give you a prophesy of his will, but he doesn't want us to use deception to bring about his will. I feel that she made God small and did not hold on to the faith that what God pronounced he will bring around in his own time. When God takes his time (sometimes he seems very slow) he is accomplishing things that we as people can not understand. You have to be patient and wait for God to bring about the future. That is the hardest part for us, we are a little like Esau and want instant answers and God doesn't always work that way. God teaches us faith, patience and endurance when he makes us wait. Jacob is equally responsible for the deception. His mother may have thought of the plan, but he followed it and thought nothing of deceiving his father. Not a very good lesson to teach your child how to deceive and lie to his other parent to get his own way.

I do not feel that Rebekah was a spiritual woman. God told her that Jacob would be over Esau, and she did not have enough faith to allow God to bring about the future. Rebekah and Jacob felt they had to deceive to get their own way, instead of allowing God to be in control. Isaac had received specific blessings for his children that it appears God gave him. Isaac even asked to be sure he had the right child before he pronounced his blessings. The question in my mind is that God knows all things, and he knew they were going to deceive Isaac so did the boys actually receive their proper blessings? I'm not sure that neither Jacob or Esau show a great deal of spirituality at that time. They did not allow God to do his work.

Esau did not put any value what so ever on his birthright.we Esau was content in hunting and doing what he wanted at the time. He did not have his eyes on the future, but only the present. If he had he would not have sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. Jacob however valued his birth right from the beginning. It even talks about him trying to be the first born from the womb. Jacob knew his brother and I'm sure he knew he could take advantage of him. Jacob deceived his brother, but it also demonstrates how important the birthright was to him. He understood what it meant for the future.