Genesis 29:13,14,18

Genesis 29:13,14,18 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. When Jacob got to Haran, his mother’s home town, his Uncle Laban was thrilled to see him. Laban was looking for a husband for his daughters. Jacob loved Rachel and worked seven years to get to marry her. But Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his oldest daughter, Leah first. So Jacob had to work another seven years to get to marry Rachel. Jacob ended up with four wives and twelve sons. God tells us in the New Testament that we should marry one wife for life. Jacob’s four wives caused him much trouble during his lifetime. But God blessed Jacob. God changed his name to Israel. His sons and all of their descendants were known as the Children of Israel.

Genesis 28:10-14

Genesis 28:10-14 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran ... and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jacob was fleeing from his brother, Esau. On the way to his Uncle Laban’s house, he slept and dreamed a dream from the Lord. In the dream, Jacob saw a huge ladder that reached all the way up to heaven with angels going up and down. God reminded Jacob that he would be blessed. God had blessed Abraham and Isaac. And that night, God reminded Jacob that He would bless him too. God’s promises were to Jacob in spite of the dumb things that he had done in the past. And God will bless us too. Go will bless us in spite of our past mistakes. We should always obey God and pray for His blessings upon us.

Genesis 27:1-4

Genesis 27:1-4 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. Isaac was old and in poor health. He wanted to give his official family blessing to his oldest son, Esau. So he told Esau to go out and kill a deer and prepare the meat just like he liked it. But Rebekah wanted Jacob to get the family blessing. So she prepared a kid from the flocks just like Isaac liked, and told Jacob to lie to his dear old father and pretend that he was Esau. Isaac fell for Rebekah and Jacob’s trick and gave the blessing to Jacob. When Esau got back from his hunt with the savory deer meat, it was too late. Jacob already had the blessing. And was he mad! Rebekah said, “Jacob, you had better go to my home town until Esau calms down and everything blows over.” Jacob knew she was right and he escaped to his uncle Laban’s home. Esau made poor choices, Rebekah, his mother, made poor choices, and Jacob, his brother, made poor choices. And the entire family was broken up because of so many poor choices. Do you know a family that has problems because of their poor choices? It could be someone in your family has made poor choices and you are having to deal with the consequences of those bad choices. God wants us to make good choices. But God still loves us if we make bad choices. The only problem is that we have to live with the results of our bad choices. We should think. Think of what will happen if we do something dumb before we do it.

Genesis 26:34,35

Genesis 26:34,35 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. While Isaac was having trouble with the Canaanites and the Philistines stealing his wells, he was having trouble with his son, Esau. Isaac loved Esau but Esau was doing his own thing. He was old enough to be independent, but he was making poor choices. He didn’t care anything about his family heritage and sold it to his twin brother Jacob for a bowl of stew. He didn’t talk to his father when he was going to get married and married a girl from among the wicked Hittite tribe. Whenever he was around his in-laws, he learned bad habits from them. They were not good for him. But he was married to one of their daughters and was over with them much of the time. I am sure God was disappointed with Esau too. Are you like Esau? Do you ignore what your parents tell you to do? Do you listen to wicked friends more than you listen to your parents? God loves you and has given you good parents to teach you the right way. Don’t be like Esau and ignore your parents. Obey them. They will be happy if you do. And God will be happy too. And guess what? You will be happy too!

Genesis 26:24-29

Genesis 26:24-29 And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac) the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD. Isaac lived among the Canaanites and the Philistines. But God had promised to give Isaac all of the land. And every time Isaac dug a well, the people of the land came and stole his well. All of that work for nothing! Water was important to Isaac because he had sheep and cattle and they had to drink every day. But the Philistines had cattle too. They bullied Isaac, so he kept moving around the valley to avoid trouble. God blessed Isaac and he seemed to know where the underground water might be. The Philistines and the Canaanites didn’t believe in the Almighty God of Isaac, but they liked the water that Isaac found. Sometimes our friends today are like the Canaanites and the Philistines. They like that we are kind and helpful because God is with us, but they don’t like to obey God as we do. We can be a good example to our friends. Just like Isaac was a good example of God’s love to the Canaanites and the Philistines. Do you love God? Do your friends see that you love God? Are you a good example to your friends?