Rebekah said “Take it [the food] to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would APPEAR to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.
Genesis 27:10- 12
He would appear to be tricking him…
Thats what got Jacob. He didn’t mind that he was tricking his father, as long he wasn’t caught. As long as his image wasn’t damaged. He was more concerned of what people would think, than what God thought of his deceit.
Bro, I feel you. That’s my thorn in the flesh too. I often care a lot about what people think. It’s even embarrassing to admit that because I care about what you all will think of me now that you know. And the cycle continues.
Jacob and I both wrestle with identity. We struggle to be secure in who we are, so we feel like we have to be like someone else to get good things in life. Jacob wanted to be his brother Esau. He wasn’t confident in his role as the second-born and didn’t trust that God would still give him good things if he didn’t have that blessing. So he went in disguise, tried to appear as someone else, and took for his own what he didn’t believe God would give to him freely.
That’s the thing about Jacob and I. We both try and put things into our own hands when we are insecure in our identity. We both try to put on appearances so no one will know how fragile we really are. We don’t always work to please God, but we work our butts off trying to please people. It’s all a game for approval.
It’s an endless circle of people before God, fake before real, and lies before truth. We work so hard out of fear. Fear that someone will discover us as we truly are. And decide what they find isn’t lovable.
That’s the real issue. And it would change everything if someone came along and said, “I see you. Without all your disguises, without your image, without all the fluff, without all achievements you’ve built up for yourself. I see you with your flaws, with your fears. And you are worth it. You are lovable.”
That’s what God does for Jacob. He tells him who he is. He gives him a new name. Israel.
God does this right after He wrestles with Jacob, which I hear is the fight of the century. After wrestling all night, God’s like can we be done?
And what does Jacob say?
Not until you bless me.
It’s back at that. The blessing. The thing he tried to steal. But he didn’t really, did he? Not if he is still asking for it. Even though Isaac gave him the blessing, Jacob still felt empty. The words of man will never truly satisfy. We need God to tell us who we are. To give us a new name. It is only the words of God that can shift our identity. And it is only out of our identity in Christ that we can set aside our concerns about appearances, be content with where God has us, and live to the fulness for which we were designed.
