Morning Devotions: 3/10/10

Genesis 25-26

Isaac heard God promise to bless his second son, Jacob, while his twin sons were still in the womb. God prepared Isaac for the role revearsal his twin sons would endure. Even so, Isaac prepared and intended to give his sacred blessing to Esau. For Isaac, this would have been perfectly normal. The ways of the world dictated to Isaac that the oldest son was to be the blessed one, and the younger son or sons would live in service to their older sibling. But, this was not God's plan. God's plan was to pass the sacred blessing onto Jacob, the second son.

Meanwhile, Jacob grew to become a man who would lie and cheat his own father. Esau was the first born, and by our ways of judgment, was much more deserving of God's blessing than his brother. Jacob didnt deserve this sacred blessing by birth-right or by virtue. Yet, God planned to give it to him before he was even born.

God's ways are not our ways.

Sometimes we look at the events of life unfolding around us and we ask the age-old question, "Why, God?"

I like to joke that one day when I get to heaven I am going to march up to God with my list of questions and demand answers. LOL All of these questions of mine are of this type: Why, Lord...?

If you think about it, we all have our list of questions.

To which our Lord Jesus, before we can even pull our list out of our pocket, reaches out to us with a loving, comforting embrace and as he reaches we see the holes from the nails. Then, in a flash of countless reminders of God's promises for us, the still small voice of God speaks His own rhetorical question, "Why did my only son have to die on the cross?" And the answer washes away the questions....."FOR ME!" He died this undeserving death, for us, so that we would recieve an undeserved life.

There is much that we do not understand about the ways of God. We are not asked to understand, only to trust. Jacob didn't deserve God's blessing. Yet, God wanted to give it, and by doing so, God raises up the man who would later become Father Israel. Like Jacob, we do not deserve the gift of Christ's life. Yet, God wants to give it to us. Who knows what God is up to, but let us be thankful that his ways are not our ways. If they were, we would all perish.

Lord God, you have chosen to bless us. Like Jacob, we dont deserve it. May our thankful hearts always respond to your call with an eagerness and appreciation for the gift you have given us. When you invite us to follow you into places where we would otherwise not prefer to go let us respond not with "Why me", but instead with "Why not me", because you have indeed blessed us with the life of your Son. Amen