# 253 Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands

The Book of Genesis

Day 253

Ge 27:27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: "Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed.

 28 Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!"

The blessing is finally delivered! God speaks it directly through the lips of Isaac to the next God-selected heir….Jacob. The self-willed Isaac, thinks he is passing the blessing on to his favorite son Esau, but God wasn’t going to let that happen no matter what!

Thy will be done!

Let’s talk a little today about the will of God “being done.” In Luther’s explanation of the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done,” he says, “The good and gracious will of God is done indeed without our prayer, but we pray in this petition, that it may be done among us also.” In other words when we pray this portion of the Lord’s prayer, we are asking that by the grace of God we would be active participants in carrying out His will, through obedience to His Word.  We are asking for the grace to be players in God’s kingdom work. (His plans and purposes.)

Too many times, we find ourselves asking to discover God’s will and when we find it, we seek to hurriedly carry it out through any means just as Rebekah and Jacob did, and we leave a trail of personal wreckage behind us. 

Quick lesson: As we seek to do God’s will, we must also seek to operate within the guidelines found in His Word. BE PATIENT!

Luther goes on to say: God’s good and gracious will is done among us when God breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will which would not let us hallow God’s name, nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh.”

It is only by the power of God (grace) that we can overcome our tendency toward getting ahead of the God’s game plan for us and taking matters into our own hands. That power is available to all believers who humbly submit to Him. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.