Monday, Aug. 26
Genesis 27:1 – 28:9 Read it here
If God is going to create a people who can witness to him in this world, this seems like a shaky foundation to start with.
We have Isaac, who seems to prefer his Esau over the son God has said will be the father of a great nation, we have Rebekah, who schemes to make sure her preferred son wins out by whatever means she considers necessary, we have Jacob, who not only agrees to his mother’s dishonesty but improves on it. Then we have Esau, who seems not very bright but very angry.
We like to have our heroes be larger than life—to be beyond the limitations of human failings.
But it seems as though the Bible goes out of its way to make sure we understand that the people God uses to do great things are not great people—they are people of great faith and obedience (at least at times).
When we get to the New Testament, Peter will be called the rock upon which Jesus builds his church—the foundation. But Peter is also portrayed as temperamental and capable of denying Jesus when it gets uncomfortable.
The mighty King David seems at times to take the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments as a things-to-do list yet is presented as a man after God’s own heart.
The apostle Paul, who shapes the Christian church to an extent exceeded only by Jesus himself, could easily have been introduced to us as model of Jewish faithfulness, but instead we first meet him as a cruel persecutor of Jesus-followers.
It’s as though God wants to make it clear that his kingdom isn’t built on a foundation of heroic people, or even consistently good people, but rather has to depend on God alone for its strength.
So the next time you think you’re not good enough to do what God is leading you to do, remember that at least you’ve never dressed in goatskin to steal something from your brother. It’s not about being good enough; it’s about trusting that God is strong enough.