Rebekah’s Journey: Meekness, A Friday of Preparation Post
Rebekah’s symbolic Fruit of the Spirit Journey to Meekness.
Desperate to fulfill God’s plan for her favorite son,
she strays outside His lines.
2000 Years Ago: Rebekah’s Journey – Meekness or Defiance?
“Son, hurry! Your father has sent Esau into the field to kill a deer. He plans to give your brother the blessing today. The blessing that God promised to you, the younger son.” Rebekah clutched her son Jacob’s arm, her eyes dark and stormy.
Jacob looked at her hand on his arm; glanced up into her eyes. He didn’t seem to understand his mother’s sudden agitation. Why was she asking him to go and kill two animals? That was always his brother Esau’s job, to kill and provide meat for their table. But now his mother was asking him to do it, and to hurry, because they needed to make a stew for Father before Esau got back from the woods. Well, Esau often took a lot longer out there than he needed to, because he just enjoyed being outdoors. They likely had enough time to do this unusual thing. And he did want that blessing, even though Esau was really supposed to have it according to tradition. But God had promised, right?
There was just one problem…
“But, Mother, Father will know I’m not Esau. He’ll touch my skin, and he’ll know, because my skin is smooth, and Esau’s is hairy. It will never work to deceive him. He knows me! He won’t bless me; he’ll curse me!”
Rebekah’s anxiety reached its peak. “Upon me be the curse,” she retorted, ignoring the Voice that whispered, “Rebekah? Isn’t that irreverence?” “I’ll put the baby goat skins on your hands and neck, and you’ll wear your brother’s clothes. It will work. It must! Only go fetch them!”
And Jacob went and fetched the animals.
Rebekah was ready with Esau’s clothes when he came back. She thrust them into his hands, then scurried to prepare the stew. She watched from a distance as he approached his father with the food. He’d better do just as she’d told him… Ahh! Yes, now his father was giving him the blessing. Now she could relax.
God’s promise had come to pass.
Today: Rebekah’s Missing Meekness
God’s promise had come to pass!
Or had it?
Technically, Jacob now had Isaac’s blessing and had the birthright. Which God had promised Jacob. Against the traditions of the day, but definitely promised.
So what doesn’t feel right?
The story has progressed really well until now. At least, until last week, when Rebekah began to show favoritism to Jacob.
But then Isaac wasn’t a meekness magnate either, having Esau as his favorite. (Genesis 25:28)
This poor household doesn’t seem to have a lot of meekness flowing around.
We can’t really point fingers at either Isaac or Rebekah, nor Jacob or Esau, because we just don’t know who was at fault. The Bible just states how it was.
And Isaac and Rebekah weren’t shipped off to the desert or swallowed by a whale or anything. Although they did have an extremely stressful life, with Jacob having to flee and Isaac partying with the worldly neighbors and marrying ungodly women.
Did their decisions cause this extra stress, even though God continued to call them His people?
This doesn’t mean
God placed a stamp of approval
on the missing meekness.
It does mean that God is patient and forgiving
and never gives up on anyone.
Where could we find a better life? We can mess up; we can throw our meekness out the window and fight with someone. But as soon as we creep back to the foot of the cross, God wraps us in His love, which was really there all the time, and restores our missing fruit.
And we can go on, following His steady GPS guidance, making good judgments, learning the lessons He wants us to learn.
What if we don’t get the guidance we ask for?
What happens if we ask for guidance and no answers float down on sticky notes with our name?
We don’t have to “stress and guess” over God’s plans for us.
Like when we see an orange light up ahead and speed up to get through the intersection. “California rolls” can cause us even more stress and/or disaster.
Don’t knock on the ceiling of your vehicle and say it’s pink. See the red that’s coming.
Slow down. Don’t end up jumping the median with your face smashed into a pole, like the poor man I saw yesterday on my drive downtown.
Take a deep breath. Think. Pray.
Wait for the green light from God before proceeding. He has promised to guide us in judgment.
When the guidance isn’t a billboard neon-flashing beside the road, wait for it. It will come.
Meekness is the answer.
Because meekness brings a great mix of fruit along with it, like patience, prayer, peace…
It’s all one great big Fruit, isn’t it? You can’t really separate Spirit fruit. They’re like one multi-hued grape bunch.
Practicing one fruit will bring the rest.
Know that at journey’s end, we serve an amazing God: He returns meekness with love and forgiveness.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Ten “Friday of Preparation” studies align the story of Rebekah in the Bible
with a Fruit of the Spirit, then concluding with the “Legacy” post.
The series begins with “Love.”
