GENESIS 27:36 - Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.”
With today’s technology, I love that professional sports has the capability for instant replays.
If not, the calls in play would be at the mercy of the referees, or better yet, in the ability of
the player to convince us that the call was right or wrong.
I’m sure many of us have watched a football game where a quarterback threw a pass to a
receiver, but in the end, it was hard to tell whether or not he caught the ball. Depending on
the team you’re rooting for will likely determine your leaning towards the call. However, if left
solely to the receiver’s antics, we would be made to believe that without a shadow of a
doubt he caught the ball all the while him knowing the truth. But, with the invention of instant
replay, we can quickly regurgitate the words of Lee Corso “Not so fast my friend.” The replay will clearly show us whether or not the receiver was telling the truth.
In this text, Jacob (and his mother) thought they were going to easily deceive Isaac and
Esau for a blessing without any repercussions. Crazy right? Not so fast my friend!
Don’t we do the same things? Do we not tell little white lies? Have you never deceived your
teacher by cheating on an exam? Haven’t you lied to someone to cover up something you
did no matter how big or small it was? Or if you’re like me, haven’t you told someone “I’ll be
there in a minute.” knowing full well that you’re not even dressed yet.
No matter how big or small a lie may appear, it’s still deception. But guess what? God was
never deceived. He saw everything. He saw our intention, He saw our scheming and
planning things in our heads…He saw it all! And if Jesus were to show an instant replay of
our actions, we’d feel embarrassed and stupid…I know I would.
However, there’s another way, a better way. The way of Jesus. A way that no matter how
hard the truth may appear, it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). Regardless of how
clever we think we are, the truth always comes to light in some shape or form. And as God
repeats throughout scripture “we will reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7, Proverbs 22:8, Job
4:8). So let’s live in the truth and be a person of integrity.