Gen 25:23 (NIV) The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Jacob had a twin brother, Esau; Esau was born a few minutes before Jacob. That made Esau the first born and gave him A LOT more power, position, and wealth. Esau was also going to get a special blessing pronounced over him just prior to his father’s death. This bothered Jacob.

The older will serve the younger: Even though it looked like a few minutes difference in time of birth cheated Jacob out of a lot of special things, God had decided to elevate Jacob to a higher level than Esau. As God looked at the two boy’s futures, He saw that Jacob was going to serve Him and His principles. He also saw that Esau was going to live a very ungodly life. So, with God’s foreknowledge of the future, He predestined Jacob to excel over Esau.

Gen 25:27-28 (NIV) The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. It is a sin for parents to have favorites; they are supposed to love, respect, and nurture all their children the same. But, it was typical for parents back in Jacob’s day to have varying degrees of love and care for their children. So, not only did Jacob lose out on being the first born, he wasn’t as loved by his father.

Gen 25:29-34 (NIV) Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

Jacob took matters into his own hands; instead of trusting God to fulfill HIS plan in Jacob’s life, Jacob took unfair advantage of Esau. God said: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” If you just trust God and don’t try to make things happen through your human effort, you will be resisting evil. A complete trust in God will empower you to resist those things that are trying to get inside you.

Here is an example of how God blessed Isaac: Gen 26:26-29 (NIV) Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him (Isaac) from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?” They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’--between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

When King Abimelech’s people mistreated Isaac, he would move away and start in a different area of the country. Rather than quarrel and fight with them, he trusted God, didn’t take matters into his own hands, and resisted doing evil. So, when his enemies came to him wanting a treaty and he asked them why, they said: “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you.” When you trust God and resist evil, God will bless you so much that those around you will see how your type of life brings blessings.

Gen 26:34-35 (NIV) When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau wasn’t supposed to marry outside the family of Abraham. But, he went against God and his parents and did what he wanted. God is able to look into the future and see what you will do. Since He saw you were going to need these studies and prayers, He made sure they would be there when you needed them.

God’s uses His foreknowledge only for good. However, He won’t look into the future of a person like Esau and make them do the right things. Esau has a God-given free will and God WON’T do anything to interfere with it. Instead, He was using His foreknowledge to create a clear path for Jacob. Jacob, however, was adding some unnecessary attempts to improve his own life. But, as you will see, they actually created great pain and misery for Jacob.

Gen 27:1-4 (NIV) When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”

Jacob already had Esau’s birthright; but, he didn’t have the firstborn blessing from his father. These blessings were powerful and typically came true. But, God is the One Who makes them come true. Isaac could say what he wanted to over Esau. If it was according to God’s will, it would come true; if it wasn’t it wouldn’t. Jacob didn’t have to worry about a thing; God was taking care of his blessings and future. But, Jacob and his mother, Rebekah. didn’t trust God and therefore couldn’t resist evil.

Gen 27:5-8 (NIV) Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Satan was actually talking through Jacob’s mother. The question was, would Jacob trust God and resist the evil his mother was telling him to commit? Since Jacob had already cheated his brother out of his birthright and had never repented, he would probably go along with the evil plan.

Gen 27:9-12 (NIV) Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”

You can know you aren’t trusting God and resisting your body, the world, or the devil when you are trying to make plans where you won’t get caught. The moment you get a thought about how to do something in such a way that others won’t find out, is the moment when you need to run to Jesus. If there is something wrong with a plan, then there will be consequences. If you are more concerned with the consequences than the fact that it is wrong, you need to take your heart to Jesus and let Him heal it.

Gen 27:13-14 (NIV) His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. The more you read your Bible, do good devotions, pray, go to church, read good Christian books and listen to good Christian music, the less likely you will be to yield to sin. These things empower you to trust God and resist wrong, bad, and evil things.

Gen 27:38-41 (NIV) Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Jacob “successfully” fooled his father and got Esau’s blessing; but, because he used wrong, bad, and evil procedures to get it, there were consequences that came with that kind of victory. You don’t need to help God bless your life. All you will end up doing is adding bad circumstances to a life that God already had plans to bless. From that point on, Jacob was mightily blessed while being cheated, lied to, mistreated, and damaged. Trust God, resist wrong, bad, and evil and you will get the blessings without the consequences.