BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS:BLESS ME (Part 2)

“Some trust in horses, some in chariots but we trust in the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 20:7)

God’s hand is not short to bless any of his creatures. All He has created was intended for our good. He does not require any of it for Himself. Conscious of this however, some people would like to fast-forward their blessings or download them at will. In a bid to accelerate the process they run into all kinds of difficulties which could have been avoided in the first instance. God knows what is best for us and He has already laid it all down, according to His own plan and timing. But our impatience is prodding us on. Some people want it instantly. They just wouldn’t wait. One such person was Jacob, Isaac’s son.

Jacob’s name means ‘a cheat,’----somebody who thinks himself smart, always seeking to outwit others. And true to his name, he tricked his elder brother, Esau, out of his birthright over a bowl of stew. Esau had returned from hunting, exhausted and famished. It happened that Jacob had just finished preparing some stew and Esau asked him whether he could have some. He was willing to offer it at the price of Esau’s birthright. Somehow Esau did not think much of his birthright at the time. When it occurred to him what he had done, it was too late. He could not get it back. He had sold it for just a bowl of stew.

Jacob did not stop at that, he went on to trick his elder brother a second time with his mother, Rebekah, as accomplice. She had overheard Isaac ask Esau to go and hunt some meat that he would prepare for him so he could eat it and bless him. Isaac had been getting on in age and had even lost his sight. So that was the natural thing to do, to bless the eldest child before he died. But Rebekah was privy to what the oracle had declared----that her eldest son would serve the youngest. In her mind, if Isaac was to bless Esau then Jacob, her favourite, would not get the blessing due him in keeping with the oracle.

So they devised a plan and provided answers at all the checkpoints that Isaac would put up. She quickly cooked the food, “How did you find it so quickly my son? His response: “The Lord your God gave me blessing.” (verse 20) He put animal skin on his arms to make Jacob’s hands hairy like that of Esau. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Are you really my son Esau?” (verse 22-24); and dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes, “Come here, my son and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his (Esau’s) clothes, he blessed him (Jacob).” (verse 26-27) This operation had to be concluded before Esau returned from hunting game. By the time he did and appeared before his father he heard: “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him---and indeed he will be blessed.” (verse 33)

“When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out in a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me----me too, my father.” (verse 34) His father concluded: “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” (verse 35) Esau got very angry this time around and would have killed Jacob if his mother had not made safe passage for him to his uncle Laban’s home in Haran.

Actually, it was God who revealed to Rebekah: “Two nations are in your womb, and the two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23) Isaac had only one blessing to give which according to God should go to the younger. This was a departure from the norm because the eldest male child received the blessing. Only God knew why.  

God has a blessing for everyone and just as our fingers are not equal our blessings are wrapped differently. Yet a good many people covet the blessings of others, and would go to any length to provoke similar blessings for themselves. They do not want to work for or pray for it, they want it by all means. Whatever God has laid down for you will never run past you. Saul went searching for his father’s lost donkeys when he was anointed first king of Israel. Joseph was elevated to the rank of prime minister straight from prison.

God and His Word are one. Jacob would have had a name change and be blessed anyway (Genesis 32:22-32)----so there was no need for Rebekah to scheme for it. Because the blessing was induced it gave birth to never-ending problems for Jacob. Whilst in Haran, his uncle tricked him to work fourteen years before he could marry the woman of his choice. Hear him complain as Laban caught up with him on his flight path back to his hometown: “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flock. I did not bring your animals torn by wild beast; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: the heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household.” What goes around comes around. 

God has blessed us severally with specific blessings, with no duplications.   He has ample blessings in store. In His infinite wisdom God knows what is best for each and everyone. What matters is what we do with our blessings for we may have to render account for them one day.  

Do not induce a blessing already prepared for you; it could be premature and come with no end of worries. Wait! God never comes late!