May 5 - Stretch and Reach
Scripture focus: By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau. Hebrews 11:20 (The Message)
If the only account we had of the blessing of Jacob and Esau is this testimony, we might not realize that the story was more of a soap opera than an awards show. Isaac, aware that his life was at an end, knew the time had come to pass on the blessing. As the oldest, Esau should have received the blessing. As Jacob's favorite child (a deplorable thing, playing favorites, but there it is – authentic, messy living right in the middle of an act of faith), Esau's blessing should have been a joyful moment for father and son. Instead, tricky Jacob disguises himself and fools his father. He steals Esau's blessing.
Shouldn't this be a story written about in People Magazine or US Weekly rather than told in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews – a virtual who's who of the heroes of the faith?
Discouragement, denial, doubt and darkness dog this family as they come to grips with this betrayal and the complicity of Isaac's wife (she too suffered from the sin of favoritism) in this nasty family story. "Time heals all wounds" is a pithy phrase, but for this family to heal, everyone had to leave the land of denial.
Part of learning how to live a transformed life will require us to stretch and reach beyond our human potential. We will have to grapple with messy stories without the panacea of platitudes. We'll have to learn to tell ourselves the truth about human limitations without allowing it to taint our perception of a living and very loving God.
Having faced the truth of our situation, we can learn how to start over, survive, stumble and search – all by an act of faith, not a herculean effort of self-will.
May you stretch and reach in ways that increase your joy.
Skill set #1: Stretch and reach to tell the truth in both small and large things.
Recommended reading: John 13 - 15
- click on the word comments and join our conversation
Copyright 2009 NorthStar Community
No comments:
Post a Comment