10/28/2026
Devotion October 28 2026
Taking Sunday into your Week
Scripture Genesis Genesis 27:30-38
After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” 34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” 37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new w**e. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
The Blessing that could not be Taken Back
Some moments change everything. A signed contract. A spoken vow. A verdict announced in the courtroom. Once the words are spoken, there's no going back.
In Genesis 27, Isaac discovers that he has blessed Jacob instead of Esau. The deception has been successful. Jacob has received the blessing intended for his brother. Esau returns from the hunt, expecting his father's blessing, only to discover that it has already been given away.
What follows is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in scripture. Esau cries. Isaac trembles. The family fractures.
Yet beneath the human drama stands a greater reality. God is accomplishing His purposes. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him that He would make him the father of many nations. This covenant has passed down through Isaac and now stands at the time of this passage.
What takes place here teaches us that God's covenant purposes can't be thwarted by human sin, that our mistakes don't cancel out God's grace and God's blessings ultimately lead us to the greater gift we have in Christ.
First of all, let's remember that God keeps working even when people make a mess of things.
In verse 33, we read Isaac, “trembled violently.” Isaac's trembling is remarkable. All along Isaac intended to bless Esau. He preferred Esau, He sought to pass the covenant blessing to the son God had not chosen. Long before the boys were born, God had declared, “The older shall serve the younger.” Isaac knew God's promise, yet he attempted to act according to his own preference. When the truth emerges, Isaac realizes something profound. He has not merely been deceived by Jacob. He's been overruled by God. The trembling is the recognition that he has encountered the sovereign will of God. As J. I. Packer writes in Knowing God, “All events that make up a person's life are divinely planned, and each of them has its own place in God's purpose.” Isaac suddenly realizes that he's not in control of the covenant blessing. God has been at work all along. That is uncomfortable for people who want control. Isaac thought he was directing the future. In reality, God was directing the future. We often live the same way. We make plans. We form preferences. We attempt to engineer outcomes. Then God does something unexpected. This passage shows us that God's purposes are stronger than our plans. Even when people make a mess of things, God keeps working to accomplish what He has promised. The point isn't that Jacob and Rebecca did the right thing. They didn't. The point here is that God is bigger than their mistakes and still accomplished what He had promised. The good news is not that people are faithful enough for God's plan to succeed. The good news is that God is faithful enough to fulfill His promises despite human failures.
Now let's look at Esau. We need to be reminded that we should not take God's blessings for granted. Verse 34 says, “Bless me, me too… my father.” Esau's cry is one of the most painful cries in Scripture. He realizes that something precious has been lost. The unknown writer of Hebrews even reminds us in Hebrews 12:16, “See that no one is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.” Esau wanted the blessing eventually, but he had not valued it consistently. Earlier, he despised his birthright, but now he desperately wants the blessing attached to it. His tears are real. His sorrow is genuine. His pain is profound. You might get a sense of this sorrow if you think back to a time you said “no” to your child and they cried great big crocodile tears and begged you to change your mind. But there's a difference between wanting God's gifts and wanting God. There's a sobering warning here. Many people want God's gifts without wanting God Himself. They want peace. They want forgiveness. They want heaven. They want purpose. But they do not desire the God from whom those gifts come. Esau reminds us that spiritual opportunities should not be treated carelessly. This story invites us to do more than shake our heads at Esau's mistake. It invites us to look at our own hearts. Are there things God has given us that we aren't really valuing? Are we putting off a response to God because we assume there will always be more time? The gospel proclaims God's patience, but it also calls for today's obedience.
As we move on, let's take a look at the blessing. God's blessing is irrevocable, we learn. Verse 33 says, “Yes, and he shall be blessed.” This statement forms the center of the passage. Isaac doesn't revoke the blessing. He can't. For Isaac and his family, a blessing was more than a few encouraging words. It was a sacred promise that carried lasting significance. Once spoken, Isaac recognizes that God's hand is upon the blessing. “Yes, he shall be blessed.” Notice the certainty here. Not “perhaps.” Not “if circumstances change.” Not “unless I reconsider.” “He shall be blessed.” This points us beyond Jacob. The promises of God are dependable because they rest upon God's character. What God decrees, He accomplishes. What God promises, He fulfills. When God says “yes,” no one else gets the final word. For believers, this becomes a source of immense comfort. We live in a world of uncertainty. Relationships fail. Markets fluctuate. Bodies weaken. Yet God's promises remain secure. The God who kept His covenant promise through Jacob is the God who keeps His promise to His people today.
At this point, we must ask an important question. Why does this story matter to the church? The answer is that Jacob's blessing is ultimately part of the story that leads to Jesus. The covenant promised to Abraham, passed to Isaac, and then to Jacob. From Jacob came the nation of Israel, and then from Israel came the Messiah. God preserved this blessing because through it He intended to bless the nations. The tragedy of Genesis 27 points forward to a greater reality. In many ways, we’re all like Esau. Sin has left us separated from the life and blessing God intended for us. We stand empty-handed. We cannot secure the blessings ourselves. But then Jesus came as the Son who was completely faithful. Jacob received a blessing through trickery, but Jesus received the Father's blessing through perfect obedience. Where Jacob put on someone else's clothes to gain favor, Jesus took on our humanity to save us. And where Esau's tears could not restore what was lost, Jesus's sacrifice makes restoration possible. Through Christ, God's promise to Abraham reaches all people. In Him we find forgiveness, a place in God's family, and an inheritance that will never fade away.
Genesis 27 is filled with flawed people. A father playing favorites. A mother manipulating things. A son who is deceiving. And a brother who is raging mad. Yet above all of them stands a faithful God. The story is not ultimately about how clever Jacob is or how tragic Esau is. It's about the God whose purposes stand. The blessing remained because God's promise remained. And today we are invited to trust that same God. When our plans fail, His purposes still stand. When our sins expose us, His grace remains available. When we wonder whether God's promise will hold, the Cross and Resurrection declare that they will. The question for us is not whether God will keep His word. The question is whether we will trust the One who always does. Amen
Please pray with me: Holy and Living God, we give you thanks for the promises that You have made to Your people which have traveled down through the years. In considering them all, help us to never take your blessings for granted and to follow Your Will in our lives. Amen
