Prayer: Father, listening to You is a key discipline for those who choose to follow You. Help me be a good listener. May I be discerning of Your voice. Amen.
Reading: Genesis 28 key: vs. 6-7
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, when he blessed him and commanded him saying, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” 7 Jacob listened to his father Isaac and to his mother and went toward Paddan-aram. 8 Then Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were contemptible in his father Isaac’s eyes.
Attention: Have you ever observed a family with two children? The two children are polar opposites in character. One listens to his parents and the other abhors instruction and advice. One is obedient and the other seems bent on disobeying and rebelling at every turn. As a parent, I have experienced a child who is very compliant and one who is compelled to rebel.
Today we read of two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Their parents give them the same advice, “Don’t take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” We are told that Jacob “listened to his father and to his mother.” Esau heard the same instruction and went to Ishmael the son of Abraham and married his daughter. Oh, that our children would listen to us too.
Do you think that God perhaps shakes his head at us too, when we do not listen to Him? Here is what the apostle Paul tells the Corinthian followers of Yeshua, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and it was written down as a warning to us”— (if I might paraphrase) so that we might not have to experience the same hardships they did and “crave evil things, as some of them did” (1 Corinthians 10: 6-11). What were they charged with? There is a list of offenses in this passage, including idolatry (which we take lightly today), sexual immorality (which we feel is the norm), testing the Lord, and grumbling! Would you grumble about the living conditions in the desert? How about the heat during the day and the cold at night? How about the lack of variety in the diet? Did you know that grumbling against Adonai was an offense? Maybe we need to watch our grumbling about the weather.
Did you listen to your parents about who to marry? Did you listen for their advice about life? Are you aware of the numerous places in the book of Proverbs which expounds the wisdom of listening to your parents? The Bible commands us to honor our parents (Exodus 20:12). It is the only commandment with a blessing. So, you want to be blessed? How am I doing with that commandment?
Action: I will honor my parents, living or deceased.
Yield: When I give honor to my parents, I am also honoring Adonai.
Engage: I am engaging in a lifestyle of honoring Adonai and my parents.
Relationship: The relationship journey with Adonai is enhanced when I honor Him and my parents.
Prayer: Father, thank You for the many examples in Scripture of obedience and disobedience which instruct me in wisdom to live an obedient life unto You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Proverbs 3:1-2
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my mitzvot.
2 For length of days and years of life,
and shalom they will add to you.
Music Video: Laura Woodley Osman—Wisdom song https://youtu.be/tMnIVe4-QUY
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”