Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.
(Genesis 27:19)
Read: Genesis 27
Devotion: One of the most encouraging and comforting doctrines is that God is absolutely sovereign over all things. As Job rightly asks, “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” (Job 9:12). There is nothing that can prevent God from doing what he has purposed to do. There is no one who could slow down, let alone stop, God’s will from being accomplished even for a millisecond. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). This includes every evil force, from the run of the mill unbeliever all the way up to Satan himself.
Think about the most heinous, evil act in all of human history: the murder of the Son of God. Of all the events throughout time, it would be that one that someone could point to and say, “See, God’s not in control. His own Son was murdered by his own people and other wicked men.” Yet, all those wicked men were fulfilling God’s plan that he had ordained before the foundation of the earth. As the believers declare in Acts 4:27-28, “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” We want to be careful here. God hates sin, he cannot sin, and he does not tempt anyone to sin (James 1:13). However, sin is not out of his sovereign control. If even the sins of the wicked can do nothing but further accomplish his plans, what can stop him? Nothing, including the instances when his very own people are acting contrary to his will.
A perfect example of this is in the famous story of Jacob lying to Isaac to receive the blessing from God. This is God’s promised line from whom Christ would eventually be born, and yet every single person in this chapter sinned in some way. First, we see that Isaac initially tried to subvert God’s will but failed. Despite knowing the prophecy that God gave before his sons’ birth—that Jacob would be the one to rule over Esau—Isaac’s desire and intention throughout most of the chapter is to give Esau the blessing, which included lordship over his brother and the Abrahamic promises (27:27-29). It is not until Isaac realizes that he has unintentionally fulfilled God’s will that he accepts God’s choice by faith (v. 33). Next, Rebekah likewise knew God’s will for her sons, but she thought God needed her help to fulfill it thus restoring to deceit to bring it about. When she hears of Isaac’s plan to bless Esau, instead of submissively going to her husband to remind him of God’s revealed word or just trusting God’s sovereign hand to fulfill it in some other way, Rebekah overstepped her bounds and tried to force the fulfillment of God’s promises. As a result, she ended up having to send her favorite son away, whom she may never have seen again.
What about the one to whom the promises were to be given, Jacob? Like Rebekah, Jacob also resorted to sin to try and force God’s will. He cared more about being caught in his lie than the immorality of deceiving his father (v. 12). Additionally, in his lie he invoked God himself as a cover for why he was able to prepare the food so quickly (v. 20). Lastly, we see the sin of Esau, who didn’t really care about the promises and intended to kill his own brother. Although Esau cried upon hearing that Jacob stole his blessing, he’s the one who valued it less than a bowl of soup years before (Gen 25:34). We further witness Esau’s indifference toward the blessing and promises of God when he immediately asks for a different one when he learned that the blessing of the firstborn had already been given (v. 36). Other than Isaac’s faith at the end, after having already sinned, no one in this story acted rightly. Even the ones who were seemingly seeking God’s will, like Rebekah and Jacob, were acting in a way that was contrary to God’s moral standard. And yet, despite the sin of all involved, God’s will was still accomplished: Jacob received the blessing and birthright. Is it not encouraging, that even when his own people act contrary to his revealed will, God will still accomplish his purposes? The God who was sovereign in Isaac’s day is still sovereign today, and there is no one who can turn him back or say to him, “What are you doing?”
Ponder and Pray: Consider how God’s sovereignty does not give his people license to sin. Why should we live according to his revealed will even though he will accomplish his purposes regardless? Finish by praising God for his sovereignty.
