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Feelings.

Anxiety.

Worry.

Fear.

Panic.

Nervousness.

Peace.

Joy.

Excitement.

Anticipation.

Hope.

Feelings. We rely on them to be certain. “I’m gonna go with my gut.” “I feel like I am making the right decision.”

And if things don’t feel right, we might not pursue a real estate deal, take a new job, or go on a trip.

Feelings involve our heart.

Helen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

But our feelings can also keep us from excelling, from pursuing, from stepping out in faith.

Our feelings can also get in the way of the voice of God and His Word.

Look at Isaac, Jacob and Esau.

Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebekah, easily deceived his father into thinking he was actually his twin brother Esau, and in the process stole his blessing of receiving a double portion of his father’s inheritance. That meant that when the father, or patriarch, died that all of his property, everything he owned and all of his money was given to his family. But the son who held the birthright, the eldest, would receive twice as much as the other sons.

Jacob had already stolen his brother’s birthright by tempting him with a bowl of stew after he had been out hunting. Esau forfeited his birthright and the blessing by giving it away to his brother Jacob and by marrying foreign wives. “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.” Genesis 26:34, 35.

So Isaac had sent Esau, a hunter, out to get some game, bring it back and fix him some dinner. After that, he would bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau before he died. “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.” Genesis 27:4 NIV.

While the twin boys were still in their mother’s womb the Lord had spoken to Rebekah and said, “Two nations are in your body. Two tribes that are now inside you will be separated. One nation will be stronger than the other. The older son will serve the younger one.” Genesis 25:23 NKJV.     Rebekah was listening and as soon as Esau left she began to connive with Jacob, her favorite son, to receive the blessing instead of his older brother.  “And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Genesis 25:28.     Esau’s name means hairy, and the name Jacob means heel holder, or one who takes the place of another. Some definitions also say it stands for Deceiver!

Jacob wasn’t so sure about the Great Deception and pleaded with his mother,  “’But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have 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.’ His mother said to him, ‘My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say…’”

Isaac was very old; his eyesight was not good at all so Jacob and Rebekah decided to make Jacob smell and feel like his brother, Esau. Jacob, on the other hand, was fair skinned. Rebekah prepared the food just as Isaac like it; she also borrowed Esau’s clothes and put them on Jacob. Then she took the skins of the goats and somehow attached them to Jacob’s hands and neck. They prepared, connived and worked together to pull off one of the greatest (and most heartbreaking) rip-offs in Biblical history…

When a person has lost their eyesight, they will then rely on other senses to see for them. Jacob went in to his father and Isaac immediately sensed something was not right. He HEARD Jacob’s voice, not Esau’s. Look at what he said to Jacob as soon as he walked in the tent:

“How did you find it so quickly, my son?” Jacob was quick with a reply, “The LORD your God gave me success.”

Isaac needed more assurance that it was his firstborn. “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

Finally he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” The Bible says he didn’t recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brothers so he began to bless him. He must have been uneasy because he stopped and said one more time, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He smelled Esau on his clothes, he felt Esau on the goatskins made to feel like his son but he didn’t listen to the voice…Jacob obviously wasn’t doing a good impression of his brother!

We all do it. We think we know what is best, perhaps we even desire a different outcome than what we think the Lord will give us through prayer so we connive and deceive to get what we want, just like Jacob and Rebekah.

Was this God’s plan or did Jacob and Rebekah decide to help God along?

History reveals Isaac to have been about 135-137 years old at the time but that he lived another 40+ years!

Other times we want to believe, we trust and rely on our feelings, our situations, or our surroundings to confirm to us that we are in God’s will or are doing the right thing at the time.

But we ignore the Voice of God or His Word.

The Will of God never contradicts the Word of God!

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The Lord had promised Rebekah that the elder would serve the younger but she took matters into her own hands instead of reminding Isaac of the Lord’s promise. We know Isaac preferred Esau and either went along with the deception so he could blame it on Jacob or was so set on giving the blessing to his firstborn in spite of what the Lord had said. (Even though he knew he had married outside of the faith and had given away his birthright). This trick caused Jacob to have to move far, far away from his family because Esau was determined to take his life.

Our feelings can get in the way of our faith. Faith is just what Hebrews says it is, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1.

The English Standard Version says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Feelings will fail us but faith will sustain us even in the darkest of times!

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The Bible reminds us that we walk by faith, not by sight; not by how we feel. If our relationship with God was based on feelings…what a mess! As humans, we are up one minute and down the next, and it doesn’t have to be that way. We can put our full confidence in the Word of God and know that in every situation, even when we can’t SEE the outcome, the reasoning, etc., we KNOW that God is in control.

It doesn’t matter what you feel or what I feel, what matters is the Word of God and in that, my friend, we can put our trust.

Don’t forget your copy of The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. Great for ANY FAST or prayer journey. On Amazon in paperback and Kindle and Barnes and Noble too! Be blessed!

 

 

Sharing with Sunday Stillness, Inspire Me Monday, Amaze Me Monday, Making your home sing, Motivation Monday, Modest Monday, Mama Moments Monday, Sharing His Beauty, Monday Musings, Treasure Box Tuesday, Titus 2sdays, UNITE, Testimony Tuesday