Text: Genesis 25:19-34 & Genesis 27:1-46

Theme: The error of attempting to earn God’s blessing

The life of Jacob began on difficult grounds. God had chosen Jacob to be the next of Abrahams sons to continue the line of the Messiah. Jacobs older brother Esau had been rejected by God because he despised spiritual things and sought, primarily, physical blessings.

As we work our way through these passages, we will see a family who sought to achieve their goals through their own efforts.

• Isaac sought to bless Isaac through his own efforts, in spite of the fact that he knew God had chosen Jacob.
• Esau sought material blessings but rejected the spiritual rewards of the birthright.
• Rebekah sought to ensure that Jacob received the blessing by making a plan to compete with Isaac’s.
• Jacob sought to obtain God’s blessing by swindling his brother out of the birthright and then deceiving his father into blessing him instead of Easu.

All of these were in the wrong because they left God out of the picture and were dependent solely on human efforts.

We cannot earn God’s blessing through our own efforts.