# 258 Blessing and Responsibility

The Book of Genesis

Day 258

Ge 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.  2 "Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.  3 "May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;  4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham."  5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 

To Isaac’s credit here he doesn’t sit around and mope about the way things have turned out concerning the blessing he inadvertently bestowed upon Jacob. Once that irrevocable blessing was bestowed, he went all in with it!

He starts out by charging Jacob to find a bride among his brethren. (This is the equivalent of the charge to Christians to marry fellow believers. 2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?)

Isaac BLESSES and CHARGES Jacob at the same time, and that should help us make the connection between God’s blessing and responsibility. God doesn’t bless us in order for us to live irresponsibly.  The Parable of the Prodigal Son comes to mind here, as does the Parable of the Talents.  God gives us grace, that we may invest it in others. (His preferred way of investing in His kingdom) We are not to fritter it away on ourselves as the Prodigal son did!

To “fritter” away God’s grace is to receive it but then not be gracious to others, or to continue living as you please, or to be content to live as a spiritual babe, living on the milk of the Word, rather than moving on to the meat. Heb 5:13 says, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Grace is given by God to be spent by us for Him, His kingdom, and His glory! 1Pe 4:10  says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

God’s grace is truly amazing, but don’t sit around gawking at it! Employ it in your own life as God gives you opportunity!