Jacob Grasping

Scripture Reading: Genesis 26: 21-34

Key Verse: his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob (Genesis 26:26)

Meditation: When our daughter was having her first son she said as she was in the throes of labor, " Mom we are going to name the baby, Jacob. Jacob was a good man, wasn't he?"  I momentarily stunned by her question and by the timing, shocked our, " He became a good man, dear"

That was not the best answer. He never became a good man, but he did become a man who recognized God as the source of life. He did wrestle with the Almighty and God had mercy on him.  We all are something of a Jacob. He recognized God after many attempts to direct his own life. 

Jacob came out of the womb grasping for control. He saw it demonstrated by his mother, Rebekah, in her trickery to get favors for her selected son. He saw his father let King  Abimelech think Rebekah was his sister. We are often perplexed by the double mindedness of others. Then we look into our own hearts and are appalled at our own temptation or actual practice of double-mindedness .when we are victims of deception we are angry, disappointed disillusioned and feel victimized.

We live in the human race first deceived by Satan. Certainly we fell the results of disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Only God can rescue us form the damage we sill suffer from the inherited curse of the sinful nature in our hearts.

Thoughts for the Day: How can we know what is in our hearts? Only God can show us if we are grasping for our own will or for His perfect plan for us.