A Father's Blessing

Text focus: Genesis 27:30-39

There are moments in life when everything seems to be coming together exactly as we hoped. You can picture the future in your mind. You have a plan, you know how it is all supposed to go. You have written the whole story in your mind.

And then something happens.

A diagnosis arrives.

A relationship breaks.

A job disappears.

A secret is revealed.

A betrayal comes to light.

And suddenly the story we thought we were living is not the story we are living at all. We find ourselves asking, how can God who is good all the time, be present and active in my life when everything seems to be falling apart?

That is where we find Isaac this morning. Genesis 27 is often remembered as Jacob's story. It is the story of the younger son deceiving his father and stealing a blessing from his brother with the help of his mother. It is a story filled with family dysfunction, favoritism, manipulation, and heartbreak, but this morning I want us to sit beside Isaac. I want us to see the story through the eyes of an aging father. A man whose eyesight and strength are failing. A man who knows his life is nearing its end. A man who wants one final sacred moment with his eldest son.

Isaac thinks he knows how the story ends. He has a plan. He has hopes. He has expectations. And he is doing all the things to make sure those plans and hopes pan out the way he had hoped. Then Esau walks into the room. And everything changes. In Genesis 27:33 scripture tells us that upon learning he had been tricked and that Esau did not receive the blessing that "Isaac trembled violently."

The Hebrew language translates here to “And Isaac trembled a very great trembling to excess". It piles one expression upon another to emphasize the intensity of the moment. To make sure that we understand, Isaac is shaken to his core. His plans have collapsed. His trust has been broken. Nothing is what he thought it was. Isaac is shook, can you feel it? And yet, somehow, God is still at work.

That is the good news of this story. Because God's promises are not dependent on perfect people.

To understand Isaac's pain, we need to understand what this blessing meant. Today, we may think of a blessing as kind words spoken over someone. We might offer a blessing at a wedding, a baptism, or before a big life change or important trip.

But in Isaac's world, this blessing carried enormous significance. This was the assurance of legacy. This was the handing down of inheritance. This blessing was the passing of God's covenant promises from one generation to the next. Isaac is preparing for one of the most important moments of his life. He intends to bless Esau, his eldest son.

If you know the story, you know that there has long been tension in the family, Genesis tells us that Isaac favored Esau while Rebekah favored Jacob. Even before they were born, God declared: "The older shall serve the younger." And at the moment of birth the twins fought for the position of firstborn.

But let’s not overlook this, God had already revealed something about expected outcome. Yet Isaac appears determined to bless Esau. Perhaps he loved Esau more deeply. Perhaps he thought he knew better. Perhaps because of the traditions and expectations of the world around him, he simply could not imagine a future different from the one he had planned.

Whatever the reason, Isaac has a picture in his mind of how things are supposed to go. And don't we all?

We imagine how our futures will turn out. We imagine what tomorrow will hold. And then life happens. Sometimes our plans crumble. Sometimes the future we envisioned never arrives. Sometimes we discover that our story is heading in a completely different direction.

Have you ever experienced a moment like Isaac? A moment when everything you believed suddenly changed? When someone you trusted wounded you deeply? When you learned that things were not going to go as you expected?

Many of us have.

Perhaps it was a betrayal in a marriage.

Perhaps it was conflict within a family.

Perhaps it was a friendship that ended unexpectedly.

Perhaps it was a harm that you experienced from a church member.

Those moments shake us. They make us question everything. They leave wounds that can take years to heal. But they are not the end of the story.

Two weeks ago we talked about how God’s timeline is not always the same as our timeline, Another hard lesson of faith is that God's plans and our plans are not always the same thing. I think by now most of you have heard me say I didn’t plan to be a preacher. From the earliest age, I wanted to be a doctor. I remember this photo of me when I was about 3 years old holding a stethoscope and listening to my baby brother’s heart. That dream stayed with me for almost 20 years, I had a plan and my plan was to be a doctor. I loved math, science, and anatomy classes. I was a straight A student who loved school. But when I got to college, the courses were no longer fulfilling, the course work in those classes needed to be a doctor where less than engaging, an very difficult, and the only classes I actually enjoyed in my first year were my philosophy, religion, and psychology classes.

Just a few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a few of you about if I would change anything in my past, and honestly I don’t know that I would. Yes I sometimes wish that I had listened sooner, or followed sooner, but it was my dream of being a doctor that took me to the school I went to, and that school is where I found the Methodist church, and had experiences and met people that helped open my world up to the core calling God has put on my life. Of course I didn’t see it then, but they do say hindsight is 20/20. If you had asked me when I was 18 where I thought I would be in my thirties, the life I would have described would not have looked anything like the one I am living. The story I had written about my life, ended up being a VERY rough draft and some of the major plot points have changed. My plan of being a doctor met major obstacles in my first year of college, but it was also here that my faith life found fertile ground.

The collapse of our plans does not mean the collapse of God's promises. Sometimes God is working in ways we cannot yet see. Sometimes God is accomplishing things we do not yet understand.

And what is striking about this story is that Scripture does not minimize the pain of these disappointments or detours. Because God knows that broken trust is real. God knows the pain of fractured relationships. God knows the sorrow of disappointment. God knows what it’s like when someone you love makes choices that break your heart.

Genesis 27 reminds us that God sees that pain, but the story does not end there. The pain does not get the last word.

Isaac had a plan, but when those around him made choices that affected his plan,

that changed the way he had written his story. Realizing that the plan was no longer going to work is painful. But it is also holy. Because God’s promise did not change. And Isaac’s faith grew that day, because sometimes faith begins where certainty ends. You see Isaac did not revoke his blessing from Jacob, he trusted God’s promise.

Let’s step back for a moment and review. Jacob disguised as Esau lied to his father, and tricked him into giving Jacob the blessing meant for Esau. Isaac, unable to see clearly, has been deceived, the blessing has been given and the moment has passed.

Then Esau, having prepared the meal as his father requested and looking forward to receiving his father's blessing. Esau enters the tent and says, "Let my father sit up and eat of his son's game, so that you may give me your blessing."

And Isaac asks a question that changes everything. "Who are you?" At first it sounds absurd. But then the truth begins to emerge. Esau answers, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." And suddenly Isaac realizes what has happened. The deception is exposed. The trust is shattered. The blessing has already been given to another.

And "Isaac trembled violently."

But this is where the story takes a surprising turn. After Isaac realizes what has happened, we might expect him to revoke the blessing. We might expect him to curse Jacob. We might expect him to demand justice, but instead Isaac says something remarkable. He says, "Yes, and blessed he shall be."

Those words are easy to miss, yet they may be the most important words in the chapter. Isaac’s plan has changed, but something else has changed also. Perhaps this is the moment Isaac finally recognizes the way God's purposes have been unfolding all along.

The blessing has gone to Jacob. Not through honorable means. Not through righteous behavior. Not because anyone in this story acted perfectly. But God's promise, the covenant he made with Abraham and Sarah, is still moving forward through Isaac and now Jacob. Notice something else important. The Bible does not celebrate the deception. It is clear in this story that Jacob's actions are wrong. Rebekah's manipulation is wrong. The wounds they create will echo throughout the family for years. Yet God's promises are not defeated by their failures and poor choices.

That is one of the great themes of Genesis and of our faith. Again and again we encounter deeply flawed people. Yet God's promises continue. Not because the people are perfect, but because God is perfect and faithful. God works through messy people. Not because God approves of every decision. Not because human sin doesn't matter, but because God's grace is greater than our failures.

God's promises are stronger than our mistakes. They are not dependent on perfect people.

And thank God for that. Because if God's work depended on perfect people,

we would all be lost. But in his mercy and grace continues to call to us. God continues to forgive us. God continues to work in our lives and this world. God continues to bless us.

Today you may be identifying with any of those in this story. Maybe you connect with Rebekah, having acted out of love, only to learn that it hurt the very people you are love. Maybe you connect with Jacob, having deceived or tricked your way into a situation, or just feeling like an imposter in your career, relationships, or life. Maybe you connect with Esau, feeling robbed of something you believed to be yours. Feeling like you got the short end of the stick or that things didn’t turn out fairly. Maybe you connect with Isaac, feeling you have been deceived or tricked into acting in a way you did not want to, or watching your plans falling apart in front of you.

Whether we have been hurt or done the hurting. Whether we have been tricked or done the deceiving. Whether we carry disappointment, or wounds from broken trust. It’s likely something has not turned out the way you planned.

This story speaks directly into the realities of our lives, because the good news is not that everything works out exactly as we planned.

The good news is that God’s promises remain faithful. The good news is that God's grace is greater than our imperfections.

The good news is that God has been working through messy people for millennia and is continuing to do so today.

This week I want to invite you to do something simple and tangible.

Using a sticky note, I want you to write down one thing that has not gone according to plan. A disappointment. A betrayal. A failure. A broken dream. Something that still causes your heart to ache.

Then beneath it write these four words: God is still working.

Put that paper somewhere you will see it every day. Inside your Bible.

On your refrigerator. On the bathroom mirror.

Beside your bed.

In your car.

And every time you see it, remember Isaac. Isaac thought he knew how the story would end. Then everything changed. His plans fell apart. His trust was broken. Nothing was what he thought it was.

Yet God had not abandoned His promise. God was still working in his life and his family's lives. And the same is true for us. When our plans collapse, God is still working.

When trust is broken, God is still working.

When life becomes something we never expected, God is still working.

Our hope is not found in perfect families.

Or perfect decisions.

Or perfect people.

Our hope is found in a faithful God who continues to work through messy people.

Because God's promises are not dependent on perfect people.

They depend on a perfect God.

And because God is faithful.

The story of God’s love and grace is still being written.

God is still working in your life.

Thanks be to God!