Isaac's short sightedness

In Genesis chapter 27, we read the story of a man who thought he was dying. Isaac was more than a hundred years old at the time, so it’s not surprising that he thought his time on earth was drawing to a close. (Little did he know that he would actually live to be 180, as was a common occurence in those days.)

So Isaac made a plan to bless his oldest son, Esau. However, his eyesight was failing in his old age, and you probably know the story of how he was tricked into blessing the other son instead. The story is told in Genesis chapter 27, and you can also read about it in blog posts that came just before this one.

Isaac was tricked because he was short sighted - in a physical sense. But perhaps the greatest tragedy behind this story is that Isaac was also short sighted in a spiritual sense, and this may even have been a trigger that set this whole sorry story in motion.

Isaac certainly seems to understand the power of words: that a father’s blessing has an enormous impact on a child’s life, and that our words of blessing or cursing are not so easily revoked or shaken off in that child’s future. Many a person has struggled with poor self image throughout their life because a  parent constantly told them that, “You’ll always be a quitter; you’ll never amount to anything.” And many are those who have risen above incredible odds because their life was built on a foundation of affirming words: a parent or teacher who told them, “Never give up; you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. I believe in you.” We would do well to remember, as Isaac, did, that our words of blessing carry incredible power.

Where Isaac’s spiritual short sightedness kicks in, is that he seems to have bought into the philosophy of “limited blessing.”  He acts as if there is only so much blessing to go round, and once it’s done, it’s done; once he has given his blessing to one son, there will be “nothing left” (vs 37) for the other.

Well, that might be true in terms of material possessions: the more kids you have, the less each one will receive as his share when you die. But surely blessing is like love: you can always find more to share out. Every parent knows that having a second or third child doesn’t mean that you love the first one any less.  It may have been partly cultural, but perhaps Isaac’s short sightedness is partly to blame for the rivalry that existed between the boys. (In  a later generation we see Jacob blessing all twelve of sons, even though he too had had his struggles with favouritism.) In God’s kingdom economy there is always more blessing to be given out.

But some Christians live their lives with that same kind of short sightedness; they haven’t  yet grasped the concept of “unlimited blessing.” They get jealous of a fellow Christian because God has blessed that person with financial provision or with wonderful answers to prayer. They feel competitive because the church down the road is growing faster than our church is. They compare themselves with someone who seems blessed with a particular spiritual gift of faith or teaching or wisdom or evangelism, and they think, “How come I don’t have that gift?” instead of focusing on developing the gifts that they do have.

In New Testament days, Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He doesn’t reserve His blessings for only a select few believers, but wants to shower them on all of his children.

Sometimes we approach God as if he was Isaac - as if we have to earn his favour or compete for the blessings that He is giving out. But that philosopy is simply not true. God is a God of infinte resources, infinite blessing and infinite unconditional love. Let’s never fail to press in for all the blessings of the inheritance He has for us.