From yesterday: Blind old Isaac wants to bless his older son Esau, but Isaac’s wife Rebecca is hatching a plot for her favourite, Jacob, to get the blessing instead.11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 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.”13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.“I am,” he replied.25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.28 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”REFLECTIONSWritten by Gus CameronI don’t think much about blessings, probably because I live in a place and time in history where I have almost anything I could want. But to have God’s blessing is of infinite value.To have God’s blessing is an unbreakable guarantee that our future is safe and secure, that God is for us and that we have nothing to fear. And we have that blessing, not because we tricked or deceived our way into it, but because God has freely given it to us through Christ Jesus.Thank God for everything he has given us in Christ Jesus.ABOUT THE AUTHORGus is an assistant minister with our Fairfield Congregations.